Wild monkeys make sharp stone tools, but they might not realize it, scientists say
Wild monkeys make sharp stone tools, but they might not realize it, scientists say
Amina Khan
October 19, 2016, 10:05 AM
It does not pay to underestimate a monkey with a rock. Scientists studying the stone-smashing habits of bearded capuchin monkeys in Brazil have found that the primates inadvertently produce stone flakes that look very similar to the flakes used as cutting tools by early humans.
The findings, published in the journal Nature, could snarl the links that paleoanthropologists make between early Stone Age artifacts and the emergence of primitive human technology.
“It does raise interesting questions about the level of cognitive complexity — how intelligent a hominin has to be in order to produce what we thought was a sophisticated technology,” said lead author Tomos Proffitt, a paleoanthropologist at Oxford University.
When anthropologists explore early human settlements, they typically search for signs of tool use, whether by looking at the cuts on butchered animal bones or finding the tools themselves. Some of the earliest tools were simply stone flakes — sharp-edged fragments that were knocked off of a rock by hitting it with another rock at a tangential angle. Such shaped stones are seen in the archaeological record in Africa well over 3 million years ago. These stone flakes were later refined into Stone Age tools known as hand-axes — typically teardrop-shaped, with a rounded end for gripping and a sharp end for cutting.
More:
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-monkeys-make-tools-20161019-snap-story.html
