Artifacts uncovered in the excavation at Attirampakkam.
Credit: Sharma Center for Heritage Education
Humanity’s origin story has gotten increasingly tangled in recent years: New discoveries suggest that Homo sapiens interacted and interbred with other species and ventured out of Africa in more than one wave. Researchers have compared the ancient world to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth — but instead of hobbits, dwarves and elves, our planet had modern humans in Africa, Neanderthals in Europe, Homo erectus in Asia.
Now, a treasure trove of ancient stone tools suggests that humans’ circuitous path to modernity also wound through India.
In a paper published Wednesday in the journal Nature, researchers described thousands of stone implements uncovered at Attirampakkam, an archaeological site in southern India. The tools span about a million years of history, they say, and illustrate the evolution of big, blunt hand axes into finely sculpted stone points. Starting about 385,000 years ago — long before modern humans are thought to have arrived in India — it appears that an advanced toolmaking culture was developing there.
How did these techniques reach India so early? “That’s the multimillion-dollar question,” said archaeologist
The human story we were taught is largely false. Science and archaeology are telling us a very different story now that should make us take a very hard look at those institutions and authorities wishing to perpetuate the false narratives. It is wonderful to see the real story emerging at last.