Editing Paranthropus (section)

===Technology===
[[File:DNH7.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[DNH 7]], the most complete ''P. robustus'' skull known until the description of DNH155 in 2020<ref name=Stammers2018/>]]

Oldowan toolkits were uncovered at an excavation site on the Homa Peninsula in western Kenya. Stone tools called "oldowan toolkits" are used to pound and shape other rocks or plant materials. These tools are thought to be between 2.6 and 3 million years old. The stone tools were found near Paranthropus teeth.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/smallbusiness/stone-tools-used-by-hippo-eating-human-ancestors-are-millions-of-years-old-researchers-say/ar-AA17iMEE?ocid=Peregrine&cvid=5d8b2955d48b41618f23d23f75d09dc3|title=Stone Tools Used By Hippo-Eating Human Ancestors Are Millions Of Years Old, Researchers Say|website=[[MSN]] |date=2023-02-09}}</ref>

Bone tools dating between 2.3 and 0.6 mya have been found in abundance in Swartkrans,<ref name=Backwell2001/> Kromdraai and [[Drimolen]] caves, and are often associated with ''P. robustus''. Though ''Homo'' is also known from these caves, their remains are comparatively scarce to ''Paranthropus'', making ''Homo''-attribution unlikely. The tools also cooccur with ''Homo''-associated [[Oldawan]] and possibly [[Acheulian]] stone tool [[industry (archaeology)|industries]]. The bone tools were typically sourced from the [[diaphysis|shaft]] of [[long bone]]s from medium- to large-sized mammals, but tools made sourced from [[mandible]]s, [[rib]]s and horn cores have also been found. Bone tools have also been found at Oldawan Gorge and directly associated with ''P. boisei'', the youngest dating to 1.34 mya, though a great proportion of other bone tools from here have ambiguous attribution. Stone tools from Kromdraai could possibly be attributed to ''P. robustus'', as no ''Homo'' have been found there yet.<ref name=Stammers2018/>

The bone tools were not manufactured or purposefully shaped for a task. However, since the bones display no weathering (and were not scavenged randomly), and there is a preference displayed for certain bones, raw materials were likely specifically hand-picked. This could indicate a similar cognitive ability to contemporary Stone Age ''Homo''.<ref name=Stammers2018>{{cite journal|first1=R. C.|last1=Stammers|first2=M.|last2=Caruana|first3=A. I. R.|last3=Herries|year=2018|title=The first bone tools from Kromdraai and stone tools from Drimolen, and the place of bone tools in the South African Earlier Stone Age|journal= Quaternary International|volume=495|pages=87–101|doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2018.04.026|bibcode=2018QuInt.495...87S|s2cid=135196415|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Bone tools may have been used to cut or process vegetation,<ref name=Susman1988>{{cite journal |last=Susman|first=R. L. |title=Hand of ''Paranthropus robustus'' from Member 1, Swartkrans: fossil evidence for tool behavior |journal=Science |volume=240 |issue=4853 |pages=781–784 |year= 1988  |pmid=3129783 |doi=10.1126/science.3129783|bibcode=1988Sci...240..781S }}</ref> or dig up [[tuber]]s or [[termite]]s,<ref name=Stammers2018/><ref name=Backwell2001>{{cite journal|first1=L. R.|last1=Backwell|first2=F.|last2=d'Errico|year=2001|title=Evidence of termite foraging by Swartkrans early hominids|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=98|issue=4|pages=1358–1363|doi=10.1073/pnas.021551598|pmid=11171955|pmc=29261|doi-access=free}}</ref> The form of ''P. robustus'' incisors appear to be intermediate between ''H. erectus'' and modern humans, which could indicate less food processing done by the teeth due to preparation with simple tools.<ref name=Williams2015/>

Burnt bones were also associated with the inhabitants of Swartkrans, which could indicate some of the earliest fire usage.<ref name=Brain1988>{{cite journal|first1=C. K.|last1=Brain|first2=A.|last2=Sillent|year=1988|title=Evidence from the Swartkrans cave for the earliest use of fire|journal=Nature|volume=336|issue=6198|pages=464–466|doi=10.1038/336464a0|bibcode=1988Natur.336..464B|s2cid=4318364}}</ref> However, these bones were found in Member 3, where ''Paranthropus'' remains are rarer than ''H. erectus'', and it is also possible the bones were burned in a wildfire and washed into the cave as it is known the bones were not burned onsite.<ref name=Pickering>{{cite journal|last=Pickering|first=T. R.|year=2012|title=What's new is old: comments on (more) archaeological evidence of one-million-year-old fire from South Africa|journal=South African Journal of Science|volume=108|issue=5–6|pages=1–2|doi=10.4102/sajs.v108i5/6.1250|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262749300|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first1=J. A. J.|last1=Gowlett|first2=R. W.|last2=Wrangham|year=2013|title=Earliest fire in Africa: towards the convergence of archaeological evidence and the cooking hypothesis|journal=Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa|volume=48|issue=1|pages=16–17<!--only citing these pages-->|doi=10.1080/0067270X.2012.756754|s2cid=163033909}}</ref>