Scientists in Tanzania show humans used tools 2 million years ago - Quartz Africa

And, as new research conducted at Tanzania’s Olduvai Gorge reveals, this adaptability was already apparent millions of years ago.

Taken together, the data we gathered presents the earliest evidence for human activity in the Olduvai Gorge: about 2 million years ago.

It also shows that early humans used a great diversity of habitats as they adjusted to constant change.

It boasts extraordinary records of extinct species spanning several million years.

Here, the exposed canyon wall reveals 2 million years of history.

The stone tools uncovered belong to the “culture” archaeologists identify as the Oldowan.

The concentration of stone tools and animal fossils is evidence that both humans and fauna gathered around water sources.

Our data reveals that early humans carried with them rocks for tools that they obtained from distant sources across the basin, 12 kilometers east.

Thanks to past and ongoing radiometric work—using the Argon method, which dates the deposition of volcanic materials that sandwich the archaeological finds—we were able to date these artifacts to a period known as the Early Pleistocene, 2 million years ago.

This is a clear sign that 2 million years ago humans were not constrained technologically and already had the capacity to expand geographic range, as they were ready to exploit a multitude of habitats within Africa—and, possibly, beyond.