Long before we were building cities and writing stories, our distant relatives were already thinking ahead.
A new study published in Scientific Reports suggests that ancient hominins living nearly 800,000 years ago carefully selected specific types of stones for different tools and passed those strategies down over many generations.
The findings provide more evidence that these early humans were not simply picking up whatever rocks were nearby. Instead, they displayed sophisticated planning and an impressive understanding of the landscape around them.
According to the study authors in a press release, their results show that these ancient toolmakers knew how to identify “the right rock for the right tool at the right time” — and continued to do so for tens of thousands of years.
Where Did Ancient Toolmakers Get Their Rocks?
The research focused on the famous archaeological site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov (GBY), located along the shores of an ancient Lake Hula in present-day Israel. The site, which dates to around 780,000 years ago, has yielded evidence of repeated occupations by Acheulian hominins, including signs of controlled fire use, fish consumption, plant processing, and the production of elaborate stone tools.
A microscopic view of a thin section of basalt from Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov reveals the rock’s minerals and texture under polarized light.
(Image Credit: T. Golan)
Basalt was one of the most important raw materials used at GBY, particularly for making large cutting implements such as handaxes and cleavers. Previous studies showed that creating these tools involved a complex sequence of steps requiring both technical skill and advanced planning.
In the latest study, researchers investigated where those rocks originally came from.
By examining the chemical makeup of basalt artifacts from multiple layers at the site, the team discovered that many matched volcanic rock sources located less than half a mile away. Additionally, some tools corresponded to basalt formations that are now buried underground and no longer visible on the landscape.
The findings also revealed differences between stone and tool types. Giant stone cores tended to come from local and now-hidden basalt sources, while some cleavers appeared to have been fashioned from different varieties of rock.
Rather than gathering any stone they encountered, these hominins seem to have deliberately sought out materials with qualities suited to particular tools.
How Scientists Reconstructed an Ancient Landscape
To uncover the origins of the rocks, researchers combined archaeology with geology and geochemistry.
They compared basalt artifacts with samples collected from volcanic formations surrounding the site, as well as rock recovered from the Eshel Ya’aqov borehole, which penetrates buried basalt layers beneath GBY.
The team measured major elements, trace elements, and rare earth elements within the samples and used statistical analyses to identify unique geochemical signatures — essentially creating fingerprints for different basalt deposits. This approach allowed scientists to reconstruct a landscape that has changed dramatically over hundreds of thousands of years.
Because the region lies along the active Dead Sea Transform fault system, volcanic layers that were once exposed to ancient inhabitants have since been buried, eroded, or altered by tectonic activity.
What These Tools Tell Us About Ancient Humans
One of the most surprising findings was that the same stone-selection patterns appeared repeatedly across multiple archaeological layers.
That consistency points to something bigger than just individual choice. It suggests a shared technological tradition that endured for thousands of years and may have been transmitted from one generation to the next.
Nearly 800,000 years ago, hominins were already making deliberate decisions about materials and tool design. By combining archaeology, geology, and chemistry, the research team showed that these early humans possessed a level of planning and resource management once thought to belong to much later populations.
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
- This article references information from a study published in Scientific Reports: Geochemical basalt investigation reveals procurement strategy at the Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov, Dead Sea Transform, Israel
