此前，關(guān)于我們祖先或其親緣種使用工具的最早證據(jù)來(lái)自埃塞俄比亞阿瓦什河谷的兩個(gè)地點(diǎn),。大約250萬(wàn)年前制造的石器在Gona被發(fā)現(xiàn)，時(shí)間大致相同的,、有切痕的骨頭在附近的Bouri被發(fā)現(xiàn),。懷疑古猿使用工具的時(shí)間甚至要更早的觀點(diǎn)，現(xiàn)已被在阿瓦什河谷下游地區(qū)一個(gè)名叫Dikika的地方所獲得的發(fā)現(xiàn)證實(shí)：這里發(fā)現(xiàn)的是來(lái)自大型有蹄動(dòng)物的兩塊骨頭,，上面有切痕（見(jiàn)本期封面圖片）,，這與古猿利用石質(zhì)工具來(lái)從骨頭上剔肉和從骨頭里取骨髓的猜測(cè)是一致的。
這些有切痕的骨頭距今大約340萬(wàn)年,，很可能是“阿法南方古猿”(Australopithecus afarensis)的活動(dòng)所留下的結(jié)果,，該古猿是已知當(dāng)時(shí)生活在阿瓦什河谷的惟一古猿，也是著名的古猿“Lucy”（來(lái)自Hadar）和年輕的“Selam”（或稱DIK-1-1,，來(lái)自Dikika）所屬的有名物種,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原文出處：
Nature doi:10.1038/nature09248
Evidence for stone-tool-assisted consumption of animal tissues before 3.39 million years ago at Dikika, Ethiopia
Shannon P. McPherron,Zeresenay Alemseged,Curtis W. Marean,Jonathan G. Wynn,Denné Reed,Denis Geraads,René Bobe& Hamdallah A. Béarat
The oldest direct evidence of stone tool manufacture comes from Gona (Ethiopia) and dates to between 2.6 and 2.5 million years (Myr) ago1. At the nearby Bouri site several cut-marked bones also show stone tool use approximately 2.5?Myr ago2. Here we report stone-tool-inflicted marks on bones found during recent survey work in Dikika, Ethiopia, a research area close to Gona and Bouri. On the basis of low-power microscopic and environmental scanning electron microscope observations, these bones show unambiguous stone-tool cut marks for flesh removal and percussion marks for marrow access. The bones derive from the Sidi Hakoma Member of the Hadar Formation. Established 40Ar–39Ar dates on the tuffs that bracket this member constrain the finds to between 3.42 and 3.24?Myr ago, and stratigraphic scaling between these units and other geological evidence indicate that they are older than 3.39?Myr ago. Our discovery extends by approximately 800,000 years the antiquity of stone tools and of stone-tool-assisted consumption of ungulates by hominins; furthermore, this behaviour can now be attributed to Australopithecus afarensis.
