Stone tools in use for 3.3m years

Stone tools were being used 3.3 million years ago by creatures that pre-dated the earliest known ancestors of modern humans, scientists have learnt.

The discovery, in Kenya, pushes back the origins of the archaeological record by almost a million years.

Until now it was thought that stone tool culture began around 2.6 million years ago with the appearance of Homo habilis, or “handy man”, the earliest known member of the human genus family that includes people living today.