500,000-Year-Old Elephant Bone Hammer Reveals Clever Tool-Making Skills of Early Humans
Our ancient ancestors made ingenious tools made not only from stone, but also from animal bones. One such tool, a nearly 500,000-year-old primitive hammer made from elephant bone, was recently discovered in southern England.
A new study published in Scientific advances shows the ingenuity of early human species who used the bone hammer to sharpen stone tools. Elephant bone, which would have been a rare resource in prehistoric England, was the ideal material for repairing other tools due to its thickness. The marks on the hammer prove that it was repeatedly struck against the stone, demonstrating the level of technical expertise of early humans.
“This remarkable discovery showcases the ingenuity and ingenuity of our ancient ancestors,” lead author Simon Parfitt, a researcher at University College London, said in a press release. “They not only possessed a deep knowledge of the local materials around them, but also a sophisticated understanding of how to make highly refined stone tools.”
The history of bone tools and early humans
In Europe, evidence of deliberately made bone tools dates back around 500,000 years. Some archaeological sites in central and southern Europe have revealed shaped bone tools. These early bone tools were used in a variety of ways; some were used to resharpen stone tools. Bone tools found throughout Eurasia were likely first made by Homo heidelbergensisthen later by Neanderthals, thus expanding the complexity of bone technology.
But human use of bone tools goes back even further. A March 2025 study discovered 1.5 million-year-old tools in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, made from the limb bones of large mammals. East African hominids primarily used hippo and elephant bones to create tools, many of which were elongated, pointed, and serrated.
The oldest elephant bone tool in Europe
At the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene, the steppe mammoth and the straight-tusked elephant roamed Europe. However, evidence of elephant bone tools is rare in Europe before the Late Pleistocene.
Archaeological site from the 1990s, where the elephant bone tool was unearthed.
(Image credit: Boxgrove Project, UCL)
The 500,000-year-old hammer highlighted in the new study represents the oldest elephant bone tool ever discovered in Europe. According to the release, the bone fragment was discovered in the early 1990s at the Boxgrove archaeological site in the United Kingdom, but it was not designated as a tool until scientists re-examined the site.
“Elephant bones would have been a rare but very useful resource, and it is likely to be a tool of considerable value,” Parfitt said.
A team of researchers used 3D scanning methods and electron microscopes to analyze the bone tool. As they did so, they spotted several notches and impact marks indicating that the tool functioned like a hammer. Additionally, tiny fragments of flint lodged in the cuts suggested that the hammer had struck the stone several times.
Whetstone tools
Researchers say that either early Neanderthals or Homo heidelbergensis made the tool, but the bone fragment is not complete enough for them to know what species it came from. Markings on the bone also indicate that it was relatively fresh when it was used, but researchers are unsure whether it came from a hunted elephant or an already dead elephant carcass.
The first humans who made this triangular hammer would have used it as a “finisher,” meaning it was struck against dull stone axes and other tools to sharpen them by removing the splinters. Elephant bone was the ideal material for this work: it allowed for more precise techniques because it was softer than stone, but its dense outer layer of tissue (called cortical bone) made it more durable than other animal bones.
“Our ancient ancestors were sophisticated in their use of tools. Collecting and shaping a fragment of elephant bone, then repeatedly using it to shape and sharpen stone tools shows an advanced level of complex thinking and abstract thinking. They were ingenious collectors of available materials and knew the best way to use them,” said co-author Silvia Bello, a researcher at the Natural History Museum in London.
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