http://www.mesacc.edu/dept/d10/asb/origins/hominid_journey/pictures/earlyaxe.jpeg

The first tools were made of stone and their dates are from 2 or 2.4 million years. They were found in two sites, Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania and southern Ethiopia, both in Africa. The tools that were found at Olduvai´s lowest levels date 2 million years. The stone tools found in southern Ethiopia, were between 2.3 to 2.4 million years.

These are true artifacts. Someone has modified them by percussion and use. There are different kinds of tools as well. The evidence suggests that between 2.3 and 2.5 million years ago hominids began to use stone materials as tools. In some cases, the individuals who made and used these tools came back to a single location and eventually deposited a concentration of these stone artifacts.

To know who exactly was the first tool maker? Is a hard question to answer. Different kinds of hominids were alive at the time when they first appear. The assumption has always been that it is a hominid that eventually belongs to the group "homo" that was the first tool maker. Clearly, it is Homo Erectus who becomes the first proficient more skilled tool maker with greater effort than anyone previous.

The first stone tools were probably made for two purposes: cutting something and pounding on something. Clearly you can cut and pound plant materials or use stone tools to dig for roots and tubers. However, it is far more likely that some hominids began to cut hides and meat and chop on bones to extract protein rich marrow.

Of all of the tools made, the most important was probably the sharp flake that provided the edge by which one could cut even the toughest hides. It is probably unfortunate that the first stone tool tradition, the Oldowan Tool Tradition, is defined as a "core-chopper tradition". Cores are the means to detach flakes and it is these that were so vital to early hominid stone tool users.

This evidence suggests these hominids were probably scavenging. The implication was that they scavenged meat and bones from kills of lions, leopards and other carnivores. It seems that long bones were important sources of protein rich bone marrow as well. These hominids benefited from this way of life by tapping into a fatty-high energy food source

The Homo habilis man is credited with creating stone tools to help live more comfortably at the begining of the stone age.

http://k53.pbase.com/u13/paskuk/large/41596784.OlduvaiGorge1200.jpg
Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, the birthplace of Australopithecus Boisei and living grounds of Homo Habilis and Homo Erectus.
Source(s):
http://www.mesacc.edu/dept/d10/asb/origins/hominid_journey/oldowan.html

http://earlyhumans.mrdonn.org/tools.html

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