Gallery: Discovery of 100,000-Year-Old Toolkits

Ancient Tools

100,000-year-old paint-making kit found in Blombos Cave.

(Image credit: Grethe Moell Pederson)

One of the abalone shells alone with the quartzite grindstone found nestled inside.

Stephanie Pappas
Live Science Contributor

Stephanie Pappas is a contributing writer for Live Science, covering topics ranging from geoscience to archaeology to the human brain and behavior. She was previously a senior writer for Live Science but is now a freelancer based in Denver, Colorado, and regularly contributes to Scientific American and The Monitor, the monthly magazine of the American Psychological Association. Stephanie received a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of South Carolina and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz.