Kenya's Lomekwi 3 emerges as world's oldest site as 3.3 million year old fossil discovered

Kenya's Lomekwi 3 has emerged as the prime candidate to be labelled as the 'oldest archaeological site' since past dating of the fossils found in the region is being speculated to be about 3.3 million years old. According to a report by Live Science, two other candidates are also in line from Ethiopia that dates no less than 2 million years old. These three sites have sparked a debate making the Egyptian pyramids and England's Stonehenge look younger. 

Lomekwi 3, the oldest archaeological?

As per media reports, bones of hominins as well as stone tools have been unearthed in the hilly regions of West Turkana in Kenya. Citing a 2015 study published in the journal Nature, Live Science informed that the discovered fossils were estimated to be around 3.3 million years old. A team of scientists wrote in the journal that the tools were likely created to break open nuts by human ancestors 'Australopithecus Afarensis', who dominated the region back then. Although, the researchers involved stated that even though the theory about using tools fails, they would still be considered artefacts created by humans. Assistant director of the Turkana Basin Institute and the study's co-author Jason Lewis called Lomekwi 3 the oldest archaeological site on Earth, however, not all scholars agree over the controversial site, media sources said.

Ethiopia's Ledi-Geraru

This pre-historic site is located in the Afar region of Ethiopia that is known to have discovered fossils dating back about 2.8 million years ago. According to a 2015 paper, titled "Early Homo at 2.8 Ma from Ledi-Geraru, Afar, Ethiopia," published in the journal Science, fossils of the jaw of pre-historic primate Hominini were found buried in the region. However, media sources suggest that South African archaeologist Yonatan Sahle believes in the fossils being younger than said.

Ethiopia's Gona River

The last one on the list is the Gona area in Ethiopia that has presented 2.6-million-year-old stone tools, as per reports by The Science Times. Findings suggested that the stone tools were most likely made by east African natives Australopithecus Garhi, who roamed in the region around 2.5 million years ago. Archaeologist Yonatan Sahle believes that this site has the most believable evidence among all three.

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