Montana. Students Explore History With Discovery Of Million-Year-Old Artifact

BOZEMAN, Mont. -- Anthropology students are showing off a million-year-old discovery after ancient artifacts from Kenya turn up in an MSU basement.

The hand axes were made by early human ancestors and are examples of some of the oldest tool types.

They used to belong to famous paleoanthropologist Louis S.B. Leakey who, according to adjunct professor of anthropology Nancy Mahoney, "changed the way we understand human origins."

Leakey sent the artifacts to Montana back in the fifties for special stone dating.

Two anthropology students researched how the stone tools came to the department's teaching collection as part of an independent research course.

"She was giving the lecture when she passed around the stone tool and I was shaking when I held it because I couldn't imagine. This was created over a million years ago and the person who made it and intended to use it looked completely different than I did and thought completely differently and it just fascinated me," says anthropology student Betsy Garten.
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The exhibit will be on display at MSU's Renne Library until April 6th.

NBC Montana