THE EVOLUTION OF TOOLS AND HOW THEYVE MADE

THE EVOLUTION OF TOOLS AND HOW THEY’VE MADE US HUMAN

CHIMPANZEE TOOLS Stones for cracking nuts Branches for termite fishing Spears to hunt bush babies

EARLIEST TOOLS 3. 3 million years old Lomekwi 3 site, Kenya Australopithecus

OLDOWAN TOOLS 2. 5 mya—Gona, Ethiopia Homo habilis Earliest consistent manufacture of stone tools Need based manufacture

OLDOWAN TOOLS Percussion Flaking Flake Tools Cutting Core Tools Hammering, chopping, and digging

ACHEULEAN TOOLS 1. 8— 1. 5 mya Homo erectus More sophisticated technology Brains-for-Guts Hypothesis

ACHEULEAN HAND AXES Fairly standard shape Advanced percussion flaking Paleolithic Swiss Army knife

ZHOUKOUDIAN Late Homo erectus site 700, 000— 200, 000 years ago Evidence of the change in subsistence patterns

EXPANDING TO NEW ENVIRONMENTS Homo erectus was the first species to move from tropical and subtropical climates to temperate climates 500, 000 years ago in Asia Earlier in Europe Technological advancements & new subsistence patterns

MOUSTERIAN TOOLS 100, 000 years ago Neanderthals Levallois core technique

FIRE First fire evidence 790, 000 years ago in Israel For cooking and heating 780, 000— 400, 000 years ago in Zhoukoudian

BIOCULTURAL EVOLUTION When natural selection is altered by cultural advancements Culture can create non- biological solutions to environmental challenges, which potentially reduces the need for genetic responses to evolve

KNAPPING EXPERIMENT Stone tool making and brain function using PET scans Adequate force, correct position, and correct angle Heavy activation in cortical and subcortical regions Indicates knapping requires some degree of sophisticated cognitive function

SO, HOW HAVE TOOLS MADE US HUMAN? Biological evolution Helped exploit environmental resources Protect against predation Tools allowed us not to adapt to our environments, but to adapt environments to us