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Stone tools from Kenya give early glimpse of human behavior

This image provided by the Smithsonian’s Human Origins Program shows artifacts found in southern Kenya’s Olorgesailie Basin. For hundreds of the thousands of years, people living there made and used large stone-cutting tools called handaxes, left. At right are more sophisticated tools, found in the same area, which were carefully crafted and more specialized than the large, all-purpose handaxes.
This image provided by the Smithsonian’s Human Origins Program shows artifacts found in southern Kenya’s Olorgesailie Basin. For hundreds of the thousands of years, people living there made and used large stone-cutting tools called handaxes, left. At right are more sophisticated tools, found in the same area, which were carefully crafted and more specialized than the large, all-purpose handaxes. Smithsonian - Human Origins Program via AP

By Malcolm Ritter, The Associated Press

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NEW YORK >> Stone tools and other items from ancient sites in Kenya are giving scientists a glimpse at the emergence of some key human behaviors. That may include a building of relationships with distant neighbors.

Scientists can’t be sure whether the objects were made by our species, Homo sapiens, or some close relative that’s now extinct. But at about 320,000 years old, they’re roughly the same age or a bit older than the earliest known H. sapiens fossils, which appeared in Morocco.

The stone tools were more sophisticated than older ones from the area. Some were made of volcanic rock that had been brought in from far away, suggesting the toolmakers encountered distant neighbors and built some sort of relationship with them.

The findings were released Thursday by the journal Science.

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