Digging beneath a plain in Ethiopia, paleonotologists have found a skull and other fossils of what they say is a new prehuman species, possibly the long-sought link between apelike ancestors and the human family. Near the site, other scientists discovered the earliest known traces of stone tools used to butcher animals. Judging by marks on some ancient antelope bones, human like creatures who gathered long ago beside a shallow lake used chipped stones to slice meat and other stones to crack leg bones to get at the nourishing marrow. This was probably the work of members of the new species, the discoverers of both sites say; but in any case, the butchered bones are strong evidence that the first toolmakers were able to feast increasingly on meat, which could have influenced the course of human evolution.