Bone discovery pushes date for first use of stone tools back 1m years

Butchered bones found near site of 'Lucy', a probable human ancestor, who lived 3.2m years agoThe ancestors of early humans used stone tools to butcher animal carcasses nearly 1m years earlier than previously thought.Archaeologists revised the date after spotting distinctive cut and crush marks made by stone tools on animal bones dating to 3.4m years ago.The remains, including a rib from a cow-like creature and a thigh bone from an animal the size of a goat, were recovered from riverbed sediments in Dikika in the Afar region of northern Ethiopia during an expedition last January.The marks show where stone tools were used to slice and scrape meat from the carcasses and where the bones were crushed to expose the nutritious marrow inside.The discovery suggests meat was on the menu far back in our evolutionary history, and long before the arrival of the first human species, Homo habilis, 2.3m years ago."We...

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