Oldowan

Oldowan refers to the earliest known stone tool industry in prehistory. Emerging in Africa around 2.6 to 1.7 million years ago, Oldowan artifacts are the oldest archaeological evidence for tool use by hominins. The name derives from Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, where the tools were first studied and described in detail by Louis and Mary Leakey and colleagues in the 1930s–1950s. The term is used to describe a broad, simple toolkit rather than a single, standardized set of implements.

Technically, Oldowan tools are simple cores and flakes produced by percussion with a hammerstone. The assemblage typically includes unretouched flakes and choppers formed by removing a single or a few flakes from a core. Tools are small and relatively crude compared with later industries, but they show deliberate shaping and selection of raw material. Uses inferred include cutting animal carcasses, processing plants, and working wood or hide; use-wear patterns on some tools support these interpretations.

Who made them? The tools are generally attributed to early Homo species such as Homo habilis, with later expansions into Homo erectus in some sites. The Oldowan predates the more complex Acheulean handaxe industry and is characterized by its simplicity. The technology indicates basic cognitive abilities for planning and repeated use of available raw materials, though its full cognitive implications remain debated.

Geographically, Oldowan artifacts have been found across Africa, with major East African sites at Olduvai Gorge, Koobi Fora, Turkana, and Gona. Later evidence appears outside Africa in the Levant and parts of Asia, reflecting dispersal patterns of early hominins. The Oldowan gradually gives way to more advanced technologies as hominins evolved.