Researchers studied the 3.2 million year old hand bones of human ancestor Australopithecus africanus and found that the structure supports the existence of pinch gripping and precision, both necessary and a possible indication of stone tool usage.

Human-like hands, meaning hands with opposable thumbs and precision-pinch grips, may have existed before the Homo species of humans.

A team of scientists, led by paleoanthropologist Matthew Skinner from the University of Kent in the United Kingdom, studied the hand bone structures of approximately 3 million to 2 million-year old Australopithecus africanus and other Pleistocene hominins.

Australopithecus were both human and ape-like, able to walk upright but climb trees with their longer arms.

Researchers found the bone pattern in the hand structure to be able to sustain a squeezing grip and precision, which were key to early human success.

These two capabilities have also been shown in previous studies to be integral in making and usi