The ability of early humans to shape stones into tools, comparable to sharp-edged flakes, by striking two stones together to make them more useful for cutting, was a trademark of the evolution of our ancestors. However, recent discoveries made by researchers from the Max Planck Institute have raised controversial assumptions.
A remarkable and controversial recent study by scientists on the Max Planck Institute suggests that the evolution of human tool use amongst ancients could have been less intentional and more accidental.
Wild monkeys observed within the forests of Thailand were capable of create stone artifacts “indistinguishable from what we first see” [human] the archaeological record – what we perceive as the start of being human,” said Lydia Luncz from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, co-author of the study.
The real problem, nevertheless, is that, based on research by Planck’s team published in Science Advances, it seems that the long-tailed macaques made the stone tools by mistake.
Primate species, comparable to long-tailed macaques present in Southeast Asia, often use stones to interrupt oyster shells within the sand to get to their tender meat.
Scientists emphasized that for this purpose, beach-combing monkeys selected heavy, narrow stones, also called “ax hammers” by anthropologists. The first-ever evidence that these monkeys used stone tools for food apart from cracking shells – nuts – has amazed researchers.
Scientists observed animals attempting to find African oil palm nuts on an abandoned oil palm plantation in a Thai national park using video traps. Holding rigorously chosen “hammer” rocks of their hands, the local monkeys cracked the nuts.
A smooth stone was used as an anvil. However, the Chiefs didn’t rating at times. In such cases, two stones colliding unintentionally can lead to jagged fragments of the stone.
Anthropologists say this procedure was intentional for early humans. Knapping is a term utilized by archaeologists to explain the strategy of breaking down rocks to make improved tools. Oddly enough, these prehistoric tools are eerily similar to those “by accident” made by macaques.
Source: SputnikNews.com
