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What evidence connects Australopithecus garhi with stone tools and butchered animal bones?
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Australopithecus
Artist's rendering of Australopithecus afarensis, which lived from 3.8 to 2.9 million years ago.
The evidence connecting Australopithecus garhi to stone tools and butchery comes from the Bouri site in the Awash River valley of Ethiopia.1
At this 2.5-million-year-old site, researchers discovered animal bones that exhibit distinct cut marks. These marks serve as some of the earliest evidence of stone tool use within the record of human evolution. While the Bouri site is best known for the remains of A. garhi, the presence of these butchered bones in the same geological context provides the primary link between this hominin species and the early utilization of tools for processing animal remains.1