Lucy's Species May Have Used Stone Tools 3.4 Million Years Ago
The evolutionary stories of the Swiss Army Knife and the Big Mac just got a lot longer. An international team of scientists led by Dr. Zeresenay Alemseged from the California Academy of Sciences has discovered evidence that human ancestors were using stone tools and consuming meat from large mammals nearly a million years earlier than previously documented. While working in the Afar Region of Ethiopia, Alemseged's "Dikika Research Project" team found fossilized bones bearing unambiguous evidence of stone tool use -cut marks inflicted while carving meat off the bone and percussion marks created while breaking the bones open to extract marrow. The bones date to roughly 3.4 million years ago and provide the first evidence that Lucy's species, Australopithecus afarensis, used stone tools and consumed meat. The research is reported in the August 12 issue of the journal Nature.
Lucy's Species May Have Used Stone Tools 3.4 Million Years Ago
Was Lucy a tool user and a meat eater? Quite possibly, argues a new study ...
Thu 12 Aug 10 from Discover Magazine
Butchered bones prove early meat eating
Evidence from ancient bones found in Ethiopia suggest human ancestors were using stone tools to carve meat a million years earlier than previously thought.
Wed 11 Aug 10 from ABC Science
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Wed 11 Aug 10 from The Independent
Study: Were Lucy's Relatives the Oldest Butchers?
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Wed 11 Aug 10 from Wired Science
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Every time we slice into a steak or cut into some chicken, we're taking ...
Wed 11 Aug 10 from Discover Magazine
Oldest signs of tool-making found
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Wed 11 Aug 10 from BBC News
Lucy's kind used stone tools to butcher animals
African fossils bear 3.4-million-year-old traces of tool-using carnivores.
Wed 11 Aug 10 from ScienceNews
Lucy's Kind Used Stone Tools to Butcher Animals, Fri 13 Aug 10 from U.S. News
Scientists discover oldest evidence of stone tool use and meat-eating among human ancestors
The evolutionary stories of the Swiss Army Knife and the Big Mac just got a lot longer. An international team of scientists led by Dr. Zeresenay Alemseged from the California Academy of Sciences ...
Wed 11 Aug 10 from PhysOrg
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