Stone axes up to 1.5 million years old find in Iraq

By Alimat Aliyeva

Belgian scientists from the Free University of Brussels (VUB) have announced the results of an expedition in the Iraqi Western Desert, where the team discovered stone tools that could be up to 1.5 million years old, Azernews reports.

The archaeologists focused their research in the Al-Shabaka region, an area once home to a large Pleistocene-era lake that has since dried up, leaving behind ancient riverbeds crisscrossing the landscape.

During the excavation, the team uncovered seven Paleolithic sites from both the Early and Middle Paleolithic periods.

More than 850 artifacts were found in the surface layer of the region, including hand axes dating back to the Early Paleolithic (approximately 1.5 million years ago) and Levallois flakes, which range from 300,000 to 40,000 years old. These Levallois flakes are thin stone plates known for their precision, used by ancient humans for intricate tasks.

“These findings offer us valuable insight into how early humans utilized the landscape and adapted to changing climates,” explained Ella Egberts, the leader of the expedition.

The discovery in Iraq is significant not only for its age but also for its geographic location. The Middle East is often considered a "cradle" of early human development, and this finding could help researchers further understand the migration patterns of early humans as they moved out of Africa and spread across the globe.