Oldowan

[ ohl-duh-wuhn, awl- ]

adjective

, Archaeology.

1. of or designating a Lower and Middle Pleistocene industrial complex of eastern Africa, characterized by assemblages of stone tools about two million years old that are the oldest well-documented artifacts yet known.

Oldowan

/ ōl′də-wən,ôl′- /

1. Relating to the earliest recognized stage of Paleolithic tool culture, dating from around 2.5 to 1.5 million years ago and characterized by crude cores of quartz or basalt from which flakes were removed with blows from a hammerstone. Both the flaked cores and the flakes themselves were probably used as tools for such tasks as chopping, cutting, and scraping. Oldowan tools are associated with early Homo habilis sites at Olduvai Gorge, in Tanzania, and other East African locations; they may also have been made by late australopithecines. Oldowan tools show little change during the million years they were in use, and were gradually replaced by the Acheulian tools associated with Homo erectus .

Word History and Origins

Origin of Oldowan¹

1930–35; Oldow ( ay ) ( German spelling of Olduvai ) + -an

Example Sentences

A 2.9-million-year-old tool set used to butcher hippos is the earliest example of simple, flaked stone items from what is called the Oldowan tool kit.

From Scientific American

Much more is known about Oldowan stone tools, first discovered in Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania in the 1930s.

From Science Magazine

They found the macaque’s flakes were smaller and thicker than their Oldowan counterparts, yet they “fall within the range of variation” of early humanmade flakes, they write.

From Science Magazine

The scientists analyzed the size, shape, and other attributes of each macaque flake and compared them with Oldowan flakes.

From Science Magazine

Their analysis revealed a surprising fact: The flakes that the macaques unintentionally produced looked a lot like the oldest stone tools that were intentionally made by hominins: Lomekwian and Oldowan stone tool assemblages, which were discovered at sites dating between 3.3 million and 1.5 million years ago.

From Scientific American