WASHINGTON — Ancient stone tools discovered in western Ukraine may be the oldest known evidence of early humans in Europe, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
The chipped stones, intentionally formed from volcanic rock, were taken from a quarry in Korolevo in the 1970s. Archaeologists used new methods to date the layers of sedimentary rock surrounding the tools to more than a million years ago.
“This is the oldest dated evidence of the existence of a type of human in Europe,” said Mads Faurschou Knudsen, a geophysicist at Aarhus University, Denmark, and co-author of the new study.
He said it's not clear which human ancestors made the tools, but it could be Homo erectus, the first species to walk upright and master the use of fire.
“We don’t have any fossil remains, so we can’t be sure,” said Roman Garba, an archaeologist at the Czech Academy of Sciences and co-author of the study.
The shattered stone tools were likely used for cutting meat and perhaps scraping animal hides, he added.
Researchers believe the tools could be 1.4 million years old. But other experts say the study's methodology suggests they could be just over a million years old, putting them in roughly the same time period as other ancient tools unearthed in Spain.
The oldest such stone tools were found in East Africa and are 2.8 million years old, said Rick Potts, who directs the Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program.
The Ukrainian site is important because “it is the oldest site this far north,” suggesting that early humans who spread from Africa with these tools were able to survive in a variety of environments.
“The first humans, using this stone tool technology, were able to settle every place from hot Iberia (Spain) to Ukraine, where the seasons were at least very cold – that is an amazing level of adaptability,” Mr Potts emphasized.