Human evolution; selecting stone for tools (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, December 02, 2023, 20:28 (146 days ago) @ David Turell

It involved conceptual thinking for choices:

https://phys.org/news/2023-12-paleolithic-humans-understood-properties-stone.html

"A research group led by the Nagoya University Museum and Graduate School of Environmental Studies in Japan has clarified differences in the physical characteristics of rocks used by early humans during the Paleolithic. They found that humans selected rock for a variety of reasons and not just because of how easy it was to break off. This suggests that early humans had the technical skill to discern the best rock for the tool.

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"As Homo sapiens moved from Africa to Eurasia, they used stone tools made of rocks, such as obsidian and flint, to cut, slice, and craft ranged weapons. Because of the significant role they played in their culture, understanding how early humans made stone tools is important to archaeologists.

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"The team analyzed flint nodules in the outcrops that were exploited during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic (70,000 to 30,000 years ago).

"They believe Paleolithic humans understood which rocks were appropriate for making tools and, therefore, intentionally searched for them. According to their hypothesis, Paleolithic humans intentionally searched for flint that was translucent and smooth, as it could be easily broken off the rock face and shaped into sharp edges.

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"...the researchers found that much of the fine-grained flint in the area suffered from abundant internal fractures caused by geological activities, which would have made it unsuitable for large stone tools, such as Levallois products and robust blades. Therefore, it seems that Paleolithic humans selected the medium-grained flint for large tools, even though it was a tough material to modify into tools, as it was more likely to last longer.

"This offers a fascinating insight into our ancestors' behavior, as they selected flint based on many factors other than just how easy it was to fracture and could discern the most suitable rock to use to make stone tools.

"Suga is enthusiastic about the findings, which suggest the complexity of our ancestors' behavior. "This study illustrates that the Paleolithic humans changed their choice of raw material to suit their stone tool morphologies and production techniques," he said.

"We believe that these prehistoric humans had a sensory understanding of the characteristics of the rocks and intentionally selected the stone material to be used according to the form and production technique of the desired stone tools. This intentional selection of the lithic raw material may have been an important component of the production of stone tools. This may show some aspect of flexible technological behavior adapted to the situation.'"

Comment: A result that tells us about the human cognitive capacities at that time. It indicates they must have had language and communicative skills of a great quality.