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In Algeria in Setif, a team of archaeologists discovered cut stone tools that date back to 2.4 million years ago. AFP Photos / Mohamed SAHNOUNI

It is a find that could call into question the title of "cradle of humanity" of East Africa. A team of researchers published in the journal Science the results of archaeological excavations conducted in Algeria, during which they found tools created by a human hand 2.4 million years ago. It's almost as old as the oldest ever found in Ethiopia.

They do not look much like limestone pebbles and flints. And yet they have four peculiarities that make them very interesting to paleontologists . First, they are old: 2.4 million years old. They are also tools, because it appears that they have been shaped, beveled, by human hands, making it among the oldest ever discovered. They were also used, as corpses of animals cut up and beaten were found nearby. Finally, and even more surprising, they are where they were not expected to see them, not far from Sétif, 300 kilometers east of Algiers.

Why is it surprising? Because we had already discovered tools, even older and oldest ever found: 2.6 million years. But it's 5,000 kilometers away, on the Gona site in Ethiopia. " There are two possible explanations ," says Mohammed Sahnouni, who led the excavations. " Either there has been a very rapid migration of the first humans from East Africa to Algeria. Either it was the people who lived in Algeria at the time who developed the technology themselves to shape tools. We would then have a multiple origin of the emergence of lithic technology and the adoption of a diet based on meat consumption .

A short age difference of 200,000 years

In the current state of research, it is impossible to decide between these two hypotheses. That said, the heart of Mohammed Sahnouni and his team is his preference: " The difference in age between Ethiopian and Algerian tools is very short, 200 000 years. This is not enough for a migration from East Africa to the North by traveling more than 5,000 kilometers, with all the obstacles. If we also consider the demography of these early humans, it is complicated: they were very small groups not exceeding 15 individuals. It is for these reasons that we favor the second hypothesis. The researcher, however, remains cautious: " The first is not excluded either! ".

If Mohammed Sanhouni and his team are not mistaken, the scenario placing East Africa as "cradle of humanity" would be heckled. However, it remains to know from when humanity became humanity.

The emergence of the Homo genus, of which Homo sapiens is the last representative, is considered as a starting point. It is the appearance of Homo habilis, so named for its ability to make tools, there is precisely 2,5 million years that would mark the beginning. If this capacity appeared in several places at the same time as Mohammed Sanhouni thinks, East Africa would lose its title. If we go further back in time, however, then there is no need to discuss: the Australopithecus, who are not men, but whose man has descended, are, in fact, in the current state knowledge, from East Africa. This time, no doubt, the oldest fossils discovered are about 4 million years old.