Primitive stone tools are discovered in Ukraine, they may be the oldest in Europe

Some ancient stone tools found in western Ukraine may be the earliest evidence of human presence in Europe, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

The stones, originating from volcanic rock but processed, were discovered from a quarry in Korolevo in the 1970s. Archaeologists used new methods to date the layers of sedimentary rock surrounding these prehistoric tools, dating them to over 1 million years ago.

"This is the earliest evidence of any type of human in Europe that has been dated," said Mads Faurschou Knudsen, a geophysicist at Aarhus University in Denmark and co-author of the new study.

He said it is not certain which early human ancestors created the tools, but it may have been Homo Erectus, the first species to walk and master the use of fire.

"We don't have fossil remains, so we can't be sure," said Roman Garba, an archaeologist at the Czech Academy of Sciences and co-author of the study.

The chipped stone tools were likely used for cutting meat and possibly scraping animal skins, he said.

The researchers suggest the tools could be as old as 1.4 million years, but other experts say the study's methodology suggests they could be slightly more than 1 million years old, placing them roughly in the same date range. like other ancient tools discovered in Spain.

The earliest stone tools of this type were found in East Africa and date back 2.8 million years, said Rick Potts, who directs the Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program.

The site where the discovery was made in Ukraine is significant because "it is the earliest site in the far north," suggesting that early humans who dispersed from Africa by these means were able to survive in diverse environments.

"The oldest people with this ancient stone tool technology were able to colonize anywhere from warm Iberia (Spain) to Ukraine, where at least seasonally it's very cold, that's an amazing level of adaptation," Potts said.