Oldowan

American  

[ohl-duh-wuhn, awl-] / ˈoʊl də wən, ˈɔl- /

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.

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Oldowan Scientific  

/ 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.

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Etymology

Origin of Oldowan

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

Example Sentences

At the Namorotukunan Site, an international team of researchers uncovered one of the earliest and most enduring records of Oldowan stone toolmaking, dating between roughly 2.75 and 2.44 million years ago.

From Science Daily • Nov. 4, 2025

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 • May 13, 2023

Far thinner and sharper than the Oldowan tools, hand-axes were even better at the cutting, scraping, and chopping tasks for which they were designed.

From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023

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

From Science Magazine • Mar. 9, 2023

"Oldowan technology was like suddenly evolving a brand new set of teeth outside your body, and it opened up a new variety of foods on the African savannah to our ancestors."

From BBC • Feb. 10, 2023