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Stone Age

1.5 million BCE

1 recorded milestone at this point in the record.

c. 1.5 million BCE
Agriculture
East Africa

Systematic butchery with stone flakes

Cut-marked animal bones across East Africa show hominins routinely dismembering large carcasses with sharpened flakes.

Why it mattered

Access to meat and marrow supported the energetic cost of larger brains.

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Nearby in the record

c. 2.0 million BCEScience

Homo habilis and the enlarging brain

East Africa

c. 1.8 million BCESociety

Homo erectus disperses out of Africa

Africa and Eurasia

c. 1.7 million BCETechnology

Acheulean handaxe

Africa

c. 1.0 million BCE – 400,000 BCEEnergy

Controlled use of fire

Africa and Levant

c. 780,000 BCEEnergy

Hearths at Gesher Benot Ya'aqov

Levant

c. 500,000 BCEWarfare

Hafted spears

Southern Africa