
500,000-Year-Old Elephant Bone Hammer Reframes European Toolmaking
New analyses of a 500,000-year-old elephant bone hammer from Boxgrove, England, using 3D scanning and electron microscopy, reveal deliberate wear and flint residues showing it was a crafted tool used to shape stone, indicating advanced planning by Homo heidelbergensis or early Neanderthals and making it the oldest known elephant bone tool in Europe.

