Humans deliberately selected and quarried stone for tools as early as 220,000 years ago, far earlier than previously believed, according to new research. The study, led by researchers from the University of Tübingen, focuses on findings from the Jojosi site in South Africa. It was published in Nature Communications.
Researchers found that early humans did not collect stones randomly during daily activities. Instead, they traveled to specific locations to obtain high-quality raw material for tool-making. This behavior shows planning and an understanding of the properties of different types of stone.
Quarrying and tool preparation at the site
At Jojosi, the team identified clear signs of organized quarrying and tool preparation. The material found at the site was hornfels, a fine-grained metamorphic rock well suited for shaping sharp tools.
Researchers uncovered tested stone blocks, flakes of different sizes, thousands of tiny fragments from production, and hammerstones used in the shaping process.
People worked the stone directly at the site, shaping cobbles by striking them and removing flakes in a controlled process known as knapping. This allowed them to prepare the material before taking it elsewhere for further use.
Production waste reveals site function
The site contains almost no finished tools or signs of settlement. Instead, it is dominated by “production waste,” the leftover fragments created during tool-making.
This pattern shows that people visited the site for a specific purpose. They came to extract and prepare raw material rather than to live there. The absence of domestic activity supports this interpretation.
Long-term use across generations
Dating results support the idea of repeated use. Using luminescence dating, researchers found that the site remained active for tens of thousands of years, continuing until at least 110,000 BCE.
This long-term use suggests that early humans recognized the value of the site and returned to it across generations. It points to consistent behavior and early forms of resource planning.
Landscape and preservation of the site
The Jojosi site lies in open grasslands in eastern South Africa, about 140 kilometers (87 miles) from the Indian Ocean coast. The landscape formed during the Pleistocene and is shaped by erosion channels that exposed large hornfels layers.
Since 2022, an interdisciplinary team led by Dr. Manuel Will has studied the area. Early surveys on foot and with drones identified about a dozen locations with well-preserved hornfels flakes visible in exposed sediments, a rare feature for open-air sites.
Dense artifact layers and excavation methods
Excavations revealed clearly layered deposits with very high concentrations of artifacts. In some areas, researchers recorded between 200,000 and 2 million finds per cubic meter.
All sediment was carefully sieved to recover even the smallest fragments. This method allowed researchers to build a detailed record of stone-working activity and understand how the site was used.
Reconstructing tool-making sequences
To study how tools were made, Gunther Möller assembled 353 stone fragments into “refits.” These reconstructions helped trace the exact sequence of strikes used to shape the material.
By combining multiple refits, researchers could estimate the form of finished tools that were later removed from the site. The results show that tool-making followed consistent and organized patterns.
New insights into early human planning
Researchers say the findings provide a rare view into early human behavior. The evidence shows that people selected resources carefully and organized their activities with clear intent.
Professor Karla Pollmann said the discoveries highlight the early roots of planning in human history. The findings suggest that these abilities were already present and passed down across generations, offering a new perspective on the development of early Homo sapiens.
