>I wuld deny that there is any strong evidence that stone tools were around
>before the rise of Homo, although they cannot be unequivocally linked with
>Homo.  The earliest stone tools are at Gona, Ethiopia at 2.52+/-0.08 Ma
>(Semaw et al 1997) ...

> The earlist Homo specimens are H. habilis at Olduvai
>1.80+/-0.08 Ma (Johanson et al 1887), and H. erectus in Java 1.6-1.8 Ma
>(Swisher et al 1994) and possibly at Dmanisi, Georgia 1.77-1.95 Ma (White
>et al 1994). These dates and their wide geographical spread suggest that
>we have not yet found the earliest Homo, and given the sparseness of the
>stone tool finds, it is quite possible that Homo and tools appear about
>the same time.
>==========================================================================
> Dr. Andrew Millard                              [log in to unmask]
> Department of Archaeology, University of Durham,   Tel: +44 191 374 4757
> South Road, Durham. DH1 3LE. United Kingdom.       Fax: +44 191 374 3619
>                      http://www.dur.ac.uk/~drk0arm/
>==========================================================================

Regarding the comment above, here's an update for those of you interested
in early stone tools and the appearance of Homo...
Gona is the earliest site with well-dated stone tools currently known.
There are also several sites in the Turkana basin dated between 2.3 and 2.0
mya (e.g. at different stratigraphic levels at the Omo and at West
Turkana)... see Rogers et al 1994 "Changing patterns of land use by Plio
Pleistocene hominid in the Lake Turkana basin" Journal of Human Evolution
27: 139-158, for an overview, in addition to references in the Semaw et al
article cited by Millard.

Similarly, in addition to fragmentary Homo specimens found at the Omo a
number of years ago, (recently summarized in Suwa, White and Howell 1996
(American J. Physical Anthro 101 (2): 247-282),  recent discoveries have
placed potential "Homo" specimens older close to 2.4 my in Malawi (e.g.
Schrenk et al 1993 in Nature 365: 833-836); and northern Kenya (Hill et al
1992, in Nature 355: 719-722).  Of course, there is a debate about whether
these early Homo specimens fall into one or two species, and there are
several contemporary australopithecine species in both eastern and southern
Africa, all potential tool makers.
Jeanne Sept
Anthropology Dept
Indiana University, Bloomington IN

Jeanne Sept
Anthropology Department
Indiana University
Bloomington IN 47405

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http://www.indiana.edu/~origins/