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Stone Age

2.8 million BCE

1 recorded milestone at this point in the record.

c. 2.8 million BCE
Human Evolution
Ethiopia

Earliest known member of the genus Homo

A partial lower jaw from Ledi-Geraru, Ethiopia, is the oldest fossil currently attributed to the genus Homo.

Why it mattered

Pushes the origin of our genus back by several hundred thousand years.

See all Human Evolution milestones

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Nearby in the record

c. 3.3 million BCETechnology

Earliest stone tools

East Africa

c. 3.2 million BCEHuman Evolution

"Lucy" (Australopithecus afarensis)

Ethiopia

c. 2.6 million BCE – 1.7 million BCETechnology

Oldowan tool industry

Africa

c. 2.4 million BCETechnology

Percussion flaking at Lomekwi

East Africa

c. 2.0 million BCEScience

Homo habilis and the enlarging brain

East Africa

c. 1.9 million BCEHuman Evolution

Homo erectus appears

East Africa