Oldowan
Sign in to saveThe Oldowan (or Mode I) was a widespread stone tool archaeological industry during the early Lower Paleolithic spanning the late Pliocene and the first half of the Early Pleistocene. These early tools were simple, usually made by chipping one, or a few, flakes off a stone using another stone. Oldowan tools were used during a period spanning from 2.9 million years ago up until at least 1.7 million years ago (Ma), by ancient hominins (early humans) across much of Africa. This technological industry was followed by the more sophisticated Acheulean industry (two sites associated with Homo erectus
Key facts
- Archaeological culture.name
- Oldowan
- Archaeological culture.map
- Canto_tallado_2-Guelmim-Es_Semara.jpg
- Archaeological culture.mapcaption
- Carved pebble of Oldowan tradition from the Atlantic Sahara region Guelmim-Es Semara (National Archaeological Museum of Madrid)
- Archaeological culture.region
- Afro-Eurasia
- Archaeological culture.period
- Lower Paleolithic
- Archaeological culture.dates
- 2.9 million years BP – 1.7 million years
- Archaeological culture.majorsites
- Olduvai Gorge
- Archaeological culture.precededby
- Lomekwi 3
- Archaeological culture.followedby
- Acheulean
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
39 sectionsContents
- Dates and ranges
- Tools
- Manufacture
- Shapes and uses
- Abbevillian
- Tool users
- Sites and archaeologists
- Africa
- Ethiopia
- Afar Triangle
- Omo River basin
- Egypt
- Algeria
- Kenya
- Homa Peninsula
- East Turkana
- West Turkana
- Kilombe
- Tanzania
- Olduvai Gorge
- South Africa
- Swartkrans
- Sterkfontein
- Europe
- Georgia
- Bulgaria
- Russia
- Spain
- France
- Elsewhere
- Asia
- China
- Pakistan
- Syria
- Iran
- Israel
- Notes
- Sources
- External links
The Oldowan (or Mode I) was a widespread stone tool archaeological industry during the early Lower Paleolithic spanning the late Pliocene and the first half of the Early Pleistocene. These early tools were simple, usually made by chipping one, or a few, flakes off a stone using another stone. Oldowan tools were used during a period spanning from 2.9 million years ago up until at least 1.7 million years ago (Ma), by ancient hominins (early humans) across much of Africa. This technological industry was followed by the more sophisticated Acheulean industry (two sites associated with Homo erectus at Gona in the Afar Region of Ethiopia dating from 1.5 and 1.26 million years ago have both Oldowan and Acheulean tools).
The term Oldowan is taken from the site of Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, where the first Oldowan stone tools were discovered by the archaeologist Louis Leakey in the 1930s. However, some contemporary archaeologists and palaeoanthropologists prefer to use the term Mode 1 tools to designate pebble tool industries (including Oldowan), with Mode 2 designating bifacially worked tools (including Acheulean handaxes), Mode 3 designating prepared-core tools, and so forth.