In southwestern Kenya more than 2.6 million years ago, ancient humans wielded an array of stone tools—known collectively as the Oldowan toolkit—to pound plant material and carve up large prey such as hippopotamuses. These durable and versatile tools were crafted from special stone materials collected up to eight miles away, according to new research led by scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, Cleveland Museum of Natural History and Queens College. Their findings, published Aug. 15 in the journal Science Advances, push back the earliest known evidence of ancient humans transporting resources over long distances by some 600,000 years.

In a new study, archaeologists analyzed iron artifacts spanning more than 400 years of American colonial history using X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. Their results show that differences in the purity of iron and the trace elements it contains can be reliably used as a diagnostic feature to identify iron artifacts from different time periods.

Archaeologists from the University of Liège (Belgium) are conducting a new excavation campaign at the Palaeolithic site of Trou Al'Wesse in Modave. This exceptional site provides valuable information about the settlement of the first Homo sapiens populations in north-western Europe around 40,000 years ago. It is also an opportunity for archaeology students to gain practical experience in the field.