Our prehistoric human ancestors relied on deliberately modified and sharpened stone tools as early as 3.3 million years ago.

Stone tools discovered on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi are rewriting what experts thought they knew about human evolution in this region. The tools date to about 1 million to 1.5 million years ...

WASHINGTON (Nov. 4, 2025)--Imagine early humans meticulously crafting stone tools for nearly 300,000 years, all while contending with recurring wildfires, droughts, and dramatic environmental shifts.

Archaeologists have uncovered primitive sharp-edged stone tools on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, adding another piece to an evolutionary puzzle involving mysterious ancient humans who lived in a ...

ANTH copy has bookplate: Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Gift from the Margery Masinter Foundation Endowment for Illustrated Books. "In Stone Tools in Human Evolution, John J. Shea argues that over ...

Sharp stone technology chipped over three million years allowed early humans to exploit animal and plant food resources. But how did the production of stone tools -- called 'knapping' -- start?

Stone tools in Ukraine dated to 1.4 million years ago may be the earliest solid evidence of humans in Europe, a new study reveals. The makers of these tools likely weren't Homo sapiens but a close, ...

A groundbreaking discovery on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi reveals that early hominins crossed treacherous seas over a million years ago, leaving behind stone tools that reshape our understanding ...

Russell has a PhD in the history of medicine, violence, and colonialism. His research has explored topics including ethics, science governance, and medical involvement in violent contexts. Russell has ...