“These newly discovered tools have been reliably dated to 3.3 million years ago, according to scientists who’ve reviewed the research. That’s 700,000 years older than the previous record for the oldest stone tools ever found. That’s remarkable because it’s well before the human genus, Homo, emerged 2.8 million years ago. So clearly these early humans didn’t make these tools. The team presumes they were made by an early ancestor of humans, probably a member of a genus called Australopithecus. The famous ape-like creature known as Lucy was from that genus and first appeared in Africa about four million years ago.”