• 1.76million-year-old tools oldest known of Homo erectus source

• » Spanning the depths of time: American researchers working at Columbia University have determined the age of a collection of stone tools discovered near Lake Turkana, Kenya, dating them st the above figure. They used a paleomagnetic method to achieve this, as the silt and hardened clay on the tools preserved a record of the earth’s magnetic polarity. By analyzing the polarity reversals that have occurred over time, the researchers drew this conclusion. This would make them the earliest known example of Homo erectus tools, with 2 million years being the most common estimate as to when erectus evolved. Isn’t science fun?

Posted by Chris Tognotti • Permalink