c,d, General view (c) and detail (d) of the artefact concentration (mainly handaxes) in the test pit of 2004. Credit: Nature Ecology & Evolution(2023).

A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in Spain, working with two colleagues from France and another from Germany has discovered an Obsidian handaxe-making workshop from 1.2 million years ago in the Awash valley in Ethiopia.

In their paper published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, the group describes where the handaxes were found, their condition and their age.

The researchers were working at the Melka Kunture dig site when they found a handaxe buried in a layer of sediment.

Study of the axes showed them all to have been crafted in like manner, indicating that the researchers had found an ancient knapping workshop.

More information: Margherita Mussi et al, A surge in obsidian exploitation more than 1.2 million years ago at Simbiro III (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash, Ethiopia), Nature Ecology & Evolution(2023).