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Quirks and Quarks

Speaking of Tools

A shift in sophistication of stone tools by early humans 1.8 million years ago might have been related to the development of language
CBC Radio ·
Artist's impression of hominids butchering a kill with stone tools. (Illustration by Jay Matternes)
About 1.8 million years ago, there was a major shift in the way early humans made stone tools.

For hundreds of thousands of years, stone tools had been simple flakes of sharp stone. Then, in a brief period, a new tool culture appeared, as humans started to make stone tools using new techniques, new shapes, and much more careful craftsmanship.

One explanation for this shift is that people started talking about tools. According to Dr. Natalie Uomini, an archaeologist at the University of Liverpool and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, the evolution of language and tool making may have happened together. In experiments, she's shown that teaching stone tool making, using even simple forms of language, is far superior to non-verbal teaching.

Related Links

- Paper in Nature Communications
- University of California Berkeley release
- Discovery news story
- Science news story


 

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