Occasional, obligatory, and habitual stone tool use in hominin evolution

Abstract

Archeologists have long assumed that earlier hominins were obligatory stone tool users. This assumption is deeply embedded in traditional ways of describing the lithic record. This paper argues that lithic evidence dating before 1.7 Ma reflects occasional stone tool use, much like that practiced by nonhuman primates except that it involved flaked-stone cutting tools. Evidence younger than 0.3 Ma is more congruent with obligatory stone tool use, like that among recent humans. The onset of habitual stone tool use at about 1.7 Ma appears correlated with increased hominin logistical mobility (carrying things). The onset of obligatory stone tool use after 0.3 Ma may be linked to the evolution of spoken language. Viewing the lithic evidence dating between 0.3-1.7 Ma as habitual stone tool use explains previously inexplicable aspects of the Early-Middle Pleistocene lithic record.

Earliest known Oldowan artifacts at >2.58 Ma from Ledi-Geraru, Ethiopia, highlight early technological diversity

“…Oldowan | stone tools | Homo | cultural evolution | paleoanthropology S tone artifacts represent the most enduring evidence of early human behavior. As such, the archaeological record is uniquely suited to investigate the evolution of behavior in our lineage (1). For much of the study of the Paleolithic, the Oldowan has represented the origin of human tool use (2, 3) and a hallmark of hominin cognitive capabilities (4).…”

Those who can, teachDarwin's Unfinished Symphony: How Culture Made the Human Mind By Kevin N.LalandPrinceton: Princeton University Press. xiv, 450 p. $35.00 (hardcover). ISBN: 978-0-691-15118-2.

“…[4:224 And his historical narrative needs to be tweaked to deal with Shea's recent claim that habitual stone tool use didn't kick in until well after the first appearance of Homo. [5 But Darwin's Unfinished Symphony is still a landmark accomplishment. Future writing about human evolution and language origins will have to deal with and incorporate Laland's ideas and arguments.…”

“…Primordial language, he suggests, had to (1) be honest, (2) be mutually profitable to the speaker and the listener, (3) denote something in the real world, and (4) operate in multiple situations. It had (5) to provide a benefit from the very beginning, with a tiny initial lexiconsay, ten words. A satisfactory theory must (6) account for why language evolved as learned rather than instinctive behavior and (7) explain why it appeared in no other animal lineages.…”

Going big versus going small: Lithic miniaturization in hominin lithic technology

“…Understanding if and how human evolution differs from other animals' evolution was, and remains, one of paleoanthropology's central research questions. Tool use is widespread among all major primate clades, but human tool use differs from other “technological primates” in both the degree to which we use artifacts and in the tasks for which we use them . Human stone tools are distinct in featuring edges used for cutting and piercing tasks and in their small size.…”

“…Tool use is widespread among all major primate clades, but human tool use differs from other "technological primates" in both the degree to which we use artifacts and in the tasks for which we use them. 10 Human stone tools are distinct in featuring edges used for cutting and piercing tasks and in their small size. By cutting we refer to both longitudinal actions (i.e., those associated with knives) and orthogonal actions (i.e., those associated with projectile edges).…”