The First Million Years of Technology: The Lomekwian and the Early Oldowan

Abstract

During the course of human evolution, lithic technology became a critical element of hominin foraging ecology and a contributor to feedback loops selecting for increasingly sophisticated tool use, cognition, and language. Here we review the first million years of technology, from 3.3 million years ago (Ma) to 2.3 Ma. This time interval includes the two oldest archaeological industries (the Lomekwian and the early Oldowan) known exclusively from Africa, which collectively overlap with four genera of hominins (human relatives and ancestors). These Early Stone Age (ESA) industries focused on the production and use of sharp edges for cutting, as well as the use of larger, sometimes unworked stones for pounding. We review our current understanding of these technologies, where they were found, how they were made, what they were used for, and the hominins that could have produced them, and consider them in the context of nonhuman primate archaeology.