Bone tools for termite foraging
Útiles de hueso para excavar termiteros
- Date
- c. 1.5 Ma · confidence medium
- Place
- Swartkrans, Cradle of Humankind, Gauteng, South Africa
- Credited to
- Probably Paranthropus robustus (or early Homo erectus)
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Fragments of long bone with tips polished by use, whose wear pattern matches that of digging into termite mounds. They are among the oldest known bone tools and show specialised foraging for protein-rich insects.
Backwell and d'Errico (2001) identified the wear experimentally; which hominin used them is debated, since Paranthropus and Homo coexisted at Swartkrans. Drimolen has yielded similar pieces.
What it led to
- dietary broadening with fat- and protein-rich insects
- the use of bone as a raw material distinct from stone
- debate over the technical capacity of paranthropines