A team of researchers from various South African institutions and the University of Toronto in Canada has announced the discovery of tens of thousands of prehistoric tools , including numerous hand axes, at the Kathu archaeological site in South Africa.
According to these experts in the journal PLOS ONE , the site is between 700,000 and a million years old and is simply amazing.
However, archaeologist Steven James Walker, from the University of Cape Town, who has coordinated the study, highlights that despite the efforts being made to preserve the area, it is threatened by the growth of nearby urban areas. , since Kathu is an important mining nucleus.
The excavation is part of a group of Stone Age enclaves known as the Kathu Complex , in which elephant and hippo fossils have also been found. In this same place, some of the first spears that were used as such have been discovered, more than half a million years ago.
Michael Chazan, director of the Center for Archeology at the University of Toronto, argues that the large number of traces of human activity brought to light at such an early time is a real challenge.
“Everything indicates that the environment was then much wetter, more similar to that of the Okavango River than that of the Kalahari desert, in which a large human population as well as large mammals could thrive. There is no doubt that the Kathu Complex is key to understanding the evolution of our ancestors ” , he pointed out.
Photo: Steven James Walker & et al.
