Scientists from Sapienza University in Rome have discovered a huge treasure trove of volcanic glassware made by ancestors in Ethiopia. homo sapiens. The study was published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.

Archaeologists examined 575 obsidian objects older than 1.2 million years found in Ethiopia’s Awash River Valley. Among them were found more than 30 stone axes about 11.5 cm long, which ancient people may have used for chopping, scraping, processing and digging.

Obsidian tools may have very sharp cutting edges, but volcanic glass is brittle and difficult to machine without breaking. The widespread use of the material began only 300-50 thousand years ago, and the first evidence of regular production of such tools was found in Europe, their age is estimated at 500 thousand years.

Findings in the 1970s allowed scientists to hypothesize that obsidian could have been transported over long distances as early as 1.4 million years ago. The scientists’ discovery added evidence to this hypothesis and also shows that the intelligence of human ancestors was underestimated. It remains unclear which hominin may have created these artifacts, but scientists tend to believe it did. homo erectus.