The world’s oldest stone tool used for “delicate” abrading work was found close to Haifa, Israel, and dates back approximately 350,000 years. This is pretty significant as it dates back about 150,000 years earlier than when those types of tools were previously thought to have existed.
According to the University of Haifa research team, the dolomite cobble, which was discovered in the Tabun Cave at Mount Carmel, was believed to have been used to wear down materials (most probably soft materials), although the exact purpose is still unknown.
Researchers Ron Shimelmitz, Iris Groman-Yaroslavski, Mina Weinstein-Evron, and Danny Rosenberg, of the university’s Zinman Institute of Archaeology, explained this further, “While the tool is seemingly ‘simple,’ its early appearance and the fact that it has no parallel in such an early stage of human evolution give it world importance,” adding that the small rounded stone was “at such an early stage a very significant technology was added to [the hominids’] ‘toolbox’.”