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In the past, scientists assumed that our direct ancestors were the only toolmakers. But two big fossil teeth found along with the tools at the Kenyan site belong to an extinct human cousin known as Paranthropus.

The mystery will be a tough one to solve.

According to new research led by researchers with the National Museums of Kenya, Liverpool John Moores University, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and the Smithsonians National Museum of Natural History, early human ancestors used some of the oldest stone tools ever discovered to butcher hippos and pound plant material in Kenya around 2.9 million years ago.

Get latest articles and stories on Science at LatestLY. According to new research led by researchers with the National Museums of Kenya, Liverpool John Moores University, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and the Smithsonians National Museum of Natural History, early human ancestors used some of the oldest stone tools ever discovered to butcher hippos and pound plant material in Kenya around 2.9 million years ago. Science News | 2.9-million-year-old Butchery Site Reopens Case of Who Made...

New excavations that reveal a pair of gigantic molars alongside the Oldowan toolkit raise questions about which human ancestor made the tools.

Researchers from the City University of New York believe that an early evolutionary relative called Paranthropus used the newly-discovered tools to butcher meat 300,000 years before humans.

Other branches of early humans, not just ancestors of Homo Sapiens, used them to cut and crush food.

To put the age of these tools into perspective, our species Homo sapiens did not appear until roughly 300,000 years ago

Two hippo butchery sites and the largest hominin tooth ever found may change the story of the 'Oldowan toolkit.' Oldowan tools are some of the oldest known in the archaeological record; made of conveniently shaped rocks or crafted from knapped...

Archaeologists in Kenya have dug up some of the oldest stone tools ever found, but who used them is a mystery. In the past, scientists assumed that our direct ancestors were the only toolmakers. But two big fossil teeth found along with the tools at the Kenyan site belong to an extinct human cousin known…