...somebody was making hand axes at Melka Kunture, in Ethiopia's Awash River Valley. These are half a million years older than the previous oldest obsidian tools...
...and it was a factory.
575 hand axes made in a standardized way in a dedicated area, and that's more than a community would have used. This, ladies, gentlemen and beautiful others is evidence of specialization, trade, and perhaps even what we might call civilization.
And by the way? Whoever these people were, they were not Homo sapiens. Our species didn't evolve until much later.
Trade and organized tool making predates our evolution into our current form (Some would argue final, but I have never quite bought that).
Phewf!
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