Ancient stone tools discovered in western Ukraine may be the oldest known evidence of human presence in Europe, according to a new study published in the journal Nature.
Chipped stones made of volcanic rock and discovered in a quarry in Korolevo in western Ukraine in the 1970s have been dated to more than 1 million years old using new methods for determining the age of the layers of sedimentary rock surrounding the tools.
“This is the oldest evidence of any type of human in Europe,” said Mads Faurschu Knudsen, a geophysicist at Aarhus University in Denmark and co-author of the study. While it is not known which early human ancestor made these tools, he believes they may have been Homo erectus, the first humans to walk upright and use fire.
Roman Garba, an archaeologist at the Czech Academy of Sciences and co-author of the study, noted that the chipped stone tools were likely used for cutting meat and possibly for processing animal hides.
Although researchers estimate the age of these tools at 1.4 million years, other experts believe they may be slightly older than 1 million years, placing them in the same date range as other ancient tools found in Spain.
Rick Potts, who directs the Human Origins Program at the Smithsonian Institution, noted that the oldest stone tools of this type were discovered in east Africa and date back 2.8 million years.
The site in Ukraine is of great importance because it is the oldest site in the north, suggesting that early humans who migrated out of Africa could adapt to different environments, including the cold regions of Europe, using these tools.
