Europe gains an edge in ax mystery

Archaeologists have long been puzzled by a 1-million-year pause between when early humans started making sophisticated hand axes with two-faced blades in Africa 1.5 million years ago and when the technology finally got to Europe.

But new research is showing that advanced Stone Age tools got to Europe close to the time they reached other sites outside of Africa.

In a letter published today in Nature, two archaeologists have shown that axes from southeastern Spain are from 900,000 years ago, much older than had been believed.

That would mean it took about 600,000 years for the new ax-making technique to get to Europe.