title: 3.3-million-year-old stone tools from Lomekwi 3, West Turkana, Kenya.
abstract: Human evolutionary scholars have long supposed that the earliest stone tools were made by the genus Homo and that this technological development was directly linked to climate change and the spread of savannah grasslands. New fieldwork in West Turkana, Kenya, has identified evidence of much earlier hominin technological behaviour. We report the discovery of Lomekwi 3, a 3.3-million-year-old archaeological site where in situ stone artefacts occur in spatiotemporal association with Pliocene hominin fossils in a wooded palaeoenvironment. The Lomekwi 3 knappers, with a developing understanding of stone's fracture properties, combined core reduction with battering activities. Given the implications of the Lomekwi 3 assemblage for models aiming to converge environmental change, hominin evolution and technological origins, we propose for it the name 'Lomekwian', which predates the Oldowan by 700,000 years and marks a new beginning to the known archaeological record.
authors.affiliation: 1] Turkana Basin Institute, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794-4364, USA [2] CNRS, UMR 7055, Préhistoire et Technologie, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, 21 allée de l'Université, 92023 Nanterre Cedex, France [3] West Turkana Archaeological Project, P.O. Box 40658-00100, Ngara Rd, Nairobi, Kenya.
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Harmand
authors.affiliation: 1] Turkana Basin Institute, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794-4364, USA [2] West Turkana Archaeological Project, P.O. Box 40658-00100, Ngara Rd, Nairobi, Kenya [3] Department of Anthropology and Center for Human Evolutionary Studies, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901, USA.
authors.forename: Jason E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.affiliation: 1] West Turkana Archaeological Project, P.O. Box 40658-00100, Ngara Rd, Nairobi, Kenya [2] Department of Anthropology and Center for Human Evolutionary Studies, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901, USA [3] Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA.
authors.forename: Craig S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Feibel
authors.affiliation: 1] West Turkana Archaeological Project, P.O. Box 40658-00100, Ngara Rd, Nairobi, Kenya [2] Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA [3] Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Lepre
authors.affiliation: 1] West Turkana Archaeological Project, P.O. Box 40658-00100, Ngara Rd, Nairobi, Kenya [2] CNRS, UPR 2147, Dynamique de l'Evolution Humaine, 44 rue de l'Amiral Mouchez, 75014 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Sandrine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Prat
authors.affiliation: 1] West Turkana Archaeological Project, P.O. Box 40658-00100, Ngara Rd, Nairobi, Kenya [2] CNRS, UMR 5199 PACEA, Université de Bordeaux, 33615 Pessac, France.
authors.forename: Arnaud
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lenoble
authors.affiliation: 1] West Turkana Archaeological Project, P.O. Box 40658-00100, Ngara Rd, Nairobi, Kenya [2] CNRS, UPR 2147, Dynamique de l'Evolution Humaine, 44 rue de l'Amiral Mouchez, 75014 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Boës
authors.affiliation: 1] West Turkana Archaeological Project, P.O. Box 40658-00100, Ngara Rd, Nairobi, Kenya [2] Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA [3] Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work, Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey 07079, USA.
authors.forename: Rhonda L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Quinn
authors.affiliation: 1] CNRS, UMR 5199 PACEA, Université de Bordeaux, 33615 Pessac, France [2] Inrap, Centre Mixte de Recherche Archéologique, Domaine de Campagne, 24620 Campagne, France.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brenet
authors.affiliation: CNRS, UMR 7055, Préhistoire et Technologie, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, 21 allée de l'Université, 92023 Nanterre Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arroyo
authors.affiliation: 1] CNRS, UMR 7055, Préhistoire et Technologie, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, 21 allée de l'Université, 92023 Nanterre Cedex, France [2] West Turkana Archaeological Project, P.O. Box 40658-00100, Ngara Rd, Nairobi, Kenya.
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.affiliation: 1] West Turkana Archaeological Project, P.O. Box 40658-00100, Ngara Rd, Nairobi, Kenya [2] Inrap, 34-36 avenue Paul-Vaillant Couturier, 93120 La Courneuve, France.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Clément
authors.affiliation: IPHEP, Institut de Paléoprimatologie, Paléontologie Humaine: Évolution et Paléoenvironnements, CNRS, UMR 7262, Université de Poitiers, Bât. B35 - TSA 51106, 6 rue Michel Brunet, 86073 Poitiers Cedex 9, France.
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Daver
authors.affiliation: 1] West Turkana Archaeological Project, P.O. Box 40658-00100, Ngara Rd, Nairobi, Kenya [2] Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, MCC, UMR 7269, LAMPEA, 13094 Aix-en-Provence Cedex 2, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Philip
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Brugal
authors.affiliation: Turkana Basin Institute, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794-4364, USA.
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Leakey
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA.
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Mortlock
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA.
authors.forename: James D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.affiliation: West Turkana Archaeological Project, P.O. Box 40658-00100, Ngara Rd, Nairobi, Kenya.
authors.forename: Sammy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lokorodi
authors.affiliation: 1] West Turkana Archaeological Project, P.O. Box 40658-00100, Ngara Rd, Nairobi, Kenya [2] National Museums of Kenya, Department of Earth Sciences, Archaeology Section, P.O. Box 40658-00100 Ngara Rd, Nairobi, Kenya.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kirwa
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA [2] Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964, USA.
authors.forename: Dennis V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Kent
authors.affiliation: 1] CNRS, UMR 7055, Préhistoire et Technologie, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, 21 allée de l'Université, 92023 Nanterre Cedex, France [2] West Turkana Archaeological Project, P.O. Box 40658-00100, Ngara Rd, Nairobi, Kenya.
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Roche
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001106:Archaeology; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004777:Environment; D005580:Fossils; D049690:History, Ancient; D015186:Hominidae; D007630:Kenya; D010163:Paleontology; D013672:Technology / Q000266:history; D013997:Time Factors; D053001:Tool Use Behavior