Scans tell gripping tale of possible ancient tool use
Fossils contain inner signs of humanlike hands nearly 3 million years ago
By Bruce Bower
Members of the human evolutionary family possessed hands capable of making and using tools at least 200,000 years before the earliest evidence of stone implements, scientists say.
Fossil hand bones of Australopithecus africanus previously excavated at South Africa’s Swartkrans Cave, which date to as early as 2.8 million years ago, display an inner structure associated with grips needed for wielding tools, anthropologist Matthew Skinner of the University of Kent in England and his colleagues report in the Jan. 23 Science. A. africanus lived in Africa from roughly 3 million to 2 million years ago.