Oldowan Industrial Complex

Introduction

The earliest traces of hominid cultural behavior begin with sites at Gona, Ethiopia, dated to 2.6 Ma. The knowledge of how to select appropriate raw materials and how to flake effectively is well evident in a number of assemblages from Gona in primary context, dated at 2.6 and 2.5 Ma (Semaw 2000; Semaw et al. 2009). Hence archaeologists believe that early human culture must have preceded 2.6 Ma, and some are actively investigating older deposits between 2.9 and 2.6 Ma in East Africa. Here they hope to find evidence of stones used for breaking and pounding activities, especially for cracking open nuts and processing other foods to make them more edible. Researchers believe that this must be the way in which early hominids realized that stone could be flaked to produce sharp cutting tools, and it is these sharp-edged flakes and the cores from which they were struck that preserved as the earliest form of material culture. We expect that prior to 2.6 Ma, tools in perishable...