Scientists have put forward a new hypothesis for the emergence of stone tools

American scientists from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and Kent State University have presented a revolutionary hypothesis about the origin of stone tools. According to their research, published in the scientific journal Archaeometry, our ancient ancestors initially used naturally sharpened stones before mastering the technology of making tools themselves.

During extensive field expeditions in various regions of the planet, including territories of Kenya and Oman, the research team discovered a surprising fact: natural sharpened stones, called "naturalites," are found in the natural environment in significant quantities.

According to scientists, it was after a period of active use of these natural sharp stones for butchering prey that ancient hominids experienced evolutionary pressure, pushing them toward the next technological breakthrough – the deliberate knapping of stone tools according to their own design.

Researchers propose several possible scenarios for this transition. One of them is related to the problem of limited access to resources: when naturalites became scarce, there arose a need to create sharp stone flakes artificially.

An alternative explanation suggests that knapping became a way to improve nature's "invention," allowing the creation of stone flakes with specified characteristics instead of the laborious search for suitable naturalites in the surrounding environment.

The proposed hypothesis represents a more economical and logical explanation for the emergence of stone technologies compared to previously existing theories. Now the archaeological community faces the task of testing this concept by examining evidence of naturalite use in the period from 3 to 6 million years ago.