Tools of a kind

Stone implements linked Africans and Arabians a surprisingly long time ago

Culturally speaking, ancient East Africans were a stone’s throw away from southern Arabia.

STRIKING SIMILARITIES A rock (several views shown) from which sharp flakes were pounded off around 106,000 years ago in southern Arabia displays an ancient East African toolmaking style. Yamandu Hilbert

Stone tools collected at several sites along a plateau in Oman, which date to roughly 106,000 years ago, match elongated cutting implements previously found at East African sites from around the same time, say archaeologist Jeffrey Rose of the University of Birmingham, England, and his colleagues.