TIME

First Tools

At least ≈ 3.3 million years ago

A rounded basalt chopping tool with flaked edges, mounted on a stand in a museum case.

Early HumanityFirst Tools

Stones shaped into tools.

Early hominins shaped stones into simple tools. Those found at Lomekwi in Kenya are older than the Oldowan tradition.

Lomekwi 3 yielded cores and flakes dated to about 3.3 million years ago. The earliest Oldowan tools, at Gona in Ethiopia, are about 2.6 million years old.

At least ≈ 3.3 million years ago, placed on the scale of its era on a line leading toward now.

Era
Early Humanity
Period
At least ≈ 3.3 million years ago
Edition
1/1
Status
Not Released
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Background artwork

Cinematic background showing a toolmaker striking stone at dusk. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. The figure is imagined.