Bone tools at Swartkrans
Polished bone shafts show a hominin digging into termite mounds for a reliable protein supply.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 800 thousand years
- Known to
- ± 200 thousand years
- Era
- Early Pleistocene, Quaternary
Dozens of bone fragments from Swartkrans and Drimolen carry wear polish running along their length rather than across it. Experimental replication showed the pattern matches digging into termite mounds, not hide-working or digging tubers. Termites are abundant, predictable and rich in fat and protein. The tools are found in deposits containing both Paranthropus and early Homo, and given the numbers of Paranthropus present, they may well be its work.