Oldowan

The Oldowan is an early stone-tool industry characterized by flakes and cores produced through simple stone percussion. It is among the oldest widely recognized archaeological technologies.

Hard Hammer Percussion: A knapping technique that strikes stone with a hard hammerstone to detach flakes. Repeated hammerstone blows produced the Oldowan's characteristic flakes and cores.
Lomekwi 3: An archaeological site in Kenya containing stone tools dated to about 3.3 million years ago. Its tools predate the Oldowan and complicate claims about the earliest stone technology.
Homo habilis: An extinct hominin species known from eastern and southern Africa, especially between about 2.4 and 1.4 million years ago. Its fossils occur with Oldowan tools, but the association does not prove exclusive authorship.
Acheulean: A Lower Paleolithic stone-tool industry known for large shaped tools, especially handaxes and cleavers. Its carefully shaped bifaces contrast with the Oldowan's simpler flake-and-core assemblages.
Use-Wear Analysis: The study of microscopic wear and residues on tools to infer how they were used. It can distinguish cutting, scraping, and other tasks performed with Oldowan artifacts.
Lithic Reduction: The process of removing flakes from a stone core to shape tools or obtain sharp edges. Oldowan assemblages preserve early stages of deliberate stone reduction.
Gona, Ethiopia: An archaeological area in Ethiopia with stone-tool assemblages dated to about 2.6 million years ago. Gona preserves some of the earliest widely accepted Oldowan assemblages.
Australopithecus garhi: An extinct hominin species identified from fossils found in Ethiopia's Afar region. Its fossils occur near evidence of early butchery, raising questions about toolmaking before Homo.
Lomekwian: A proposed stone-tool industry represented by tools from Kenya's Lomekwi 3 site, dated to about 3.3 million years ago. It predates the Oldowan and includes larger, less standardized percussion tools.
Zooarchaeology: The study of animal remains from archaeological sites to reconstruct human behavior and environments. Animal bones help assess whether Oldowan tools were used to process carcasses.

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