Overview
This lecture examines when human ancestors first began making tools and butchering animals, challenging the view that only our genus Homo exhibited these behaviors.
Human Evolution and Tool Use
- Homo sapiens are the only surviving species of the Homo genus, originating in Africa about 200,000 years ago.
- Homo habilis, meaning "handy man," was long thought to be the earliest member of our genus and the first toolmaker.
- Oldowan stone tools, simple stone knives, were initially attributed to Homo habilis, linking tool use and meat eating to the rise of Homo.
- For decades, larger brains, toolmaking, and meat eating were thought to emerge together in early Homo around 2.3–2.5 million years ago.
New Archaeological Discoveries
- Stone tools dating to 2.5–2.6 million years ago were discovered at Gona, Ethiopia, predating previously known Homo habilis fossils.
- Animal fossils with cut marks, indicating butchery, date to 2.5 million years ago at Bouri, Ethiopia.
- In 2010, 3.4-million-year-old animal bones with stone-tool butchery marks were found at Dikika, Ethiopia, before the earliest Homo fossils.
- In 2015, stone tools from Lomekwi 3, Kenya, dated to 3.3 million years ago, pushed back the start of toolmaking by 700,000 years.
- The earliest site with repeated evidence of toolmaking and butchery is Kanjera South, Kenya, at 2.0 million years ago.
Rethinking Who Were the First Butchers
- Evidence now shows toolmaking and meat eating began before the origin of Homo.
- Australopithecus, an earlier hominin, may have used or made tools, as suggested by older cut-marked bones and tools.
- Toolmaking allowed access to new foods rich in protein and calories, helping early humans survive.
- Chimpanzees use simple tools, but early humans went further by making stone tools to process large animals.
- Some scientists suggest that traits like toolmaking evolved gradually in separate lineages, not as a single package with Homo.
Scientific Process and Debates
- Hypotheses about early tool use and meat eating are revised as new discoveries emerge.
- It is now clear that the origin of the genus Homo and the earliest tool use are more complex and less closely linked than once thought.
- The definition of Homo based on toolmaking and meat eating is being reconsidered.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Homo sapiens — the modern human species.
- Homo habilis — an extinct species, formerly considered the first toolmaker.
- Oldowan tools — simple stone tools made by striking rocks to produce sharp flakes.
- Australopithecus — an early hominin genus predating Homo.
- Cut marks — marks on bones showing butchery with tools.
- Lomekwi tools — the oldest known stone tools, dating to 3.3 million years ago.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Review the significance of recent archaeological finds in the timeline of human evolution.
- Study how new discoveries can change scientific understanding of human ancestry.
- Prepare answers to questions about the relationship between tool use, meat eating, and human evolution.