1.3-Million-Year-Old Stone Tools Unearthed Near Casablanca, Rewriting North African Prehistory

An important discovery in Morocco. 17 Moroccan, French and Italian researchers have discovered the oldest Acheulean in North Africa near Casablanca. According to the archaeologists, the Acheulean culture, one of the characteristics of which is the invention of biface tools, during the Lower Paleolithic, had been established 700,000 years ago in this part of North Africa, reports the AFP.

"With this new chronological boost, almost double, the country is positioning itself on the scale of the continent (Africa) where the Acheulean is documented at almost 1.8 million years in East Africa and 1.6 million years in South Africa," explained Moroccan archaeologist Abdelouahed Ben Ncer. At a press conference in Rabat, Abderrahim Mohib, co-director of the Franco-Moroccan "Prehistory of Casablanca" program, welcomed a "major" discovery that "contributes to enriching the debate on the emergence of the Acheulean in Africa."

Published in the British journal "Nature report", this research focuses on the study of lithic tools (bifaces, cleavers or picks) and geological data, extracted from the "Thomas I" quarry site, near Casablanca (west), where research has been conducted since the 1980s. According to Abderrahim Mohib’s details, the archaeologists discovered "one of