Anthropologists at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History have found that ancient people who lived in East Africa 320,000 years ago used colored pigments and sophisticated tools that were not typical of the early Paleolithic. This was announced in a press release on Phys.org.
The artifacts were unearthed during excavations in the Olorgesaili region in southern Kenya. The first evidence of human existence in this area dates back to 1.2 million years ago. Archaic people (Homo heidelbergensis and Homo erectus) used a chopper - a stone tool used as an ax, knife or pickaxe. However, the new finds were specialized and more finely made instruments, the age of which was 305-320 thousand years.
Some tools were made of obsidian, the sources of which were located at a distance of 24-88 kilometers from the excavation site. This indicated that there was trade between different groups of people in Africa. Crystals of manganese and ocher were also found, which were used as a coloring material.
The researchers also found that the age of the artifacts corresponded to the period of climate instability in the region. The changes in the environment, according to scientists, contributed to the technological and social leap in ancient people, which, thus, increased their chances of survival.