. An international research team discovered that early human communication was possible through the use of tools made from butchery as far back as 1.8million years ago. Researchers from three universities in the United States, including the University of St Andrews, Liverpool, England and Berkeley in California believe early Stone Age tools are the seed of human communication. The study was published in Nature Communications. Their findings, which gathered expertise from evolutionary biology, archeology and psychology, shed light on how human culture can influence evolution. Their study, which they claim is the most comprehensive to date on gene-culture coevolution within the framework of Oldowan prehistoric tools, was the biggest. Oldowan refers to Africa’s early Lower Paleolithic cultures, which date back 1.5-2.5 million years. This period is believed to be the origin of ancient human cutting tools. According to the study, communication between our early ancestors might have been more complex than we thought. Evidence suggests that teaching was possible, as well as primitive proto-languages being developed as far back as 1.8million years ago. Our oldest hominin ancestors used stone tools 2.5 million years ago to initiate the evolution of human communication. Jay Matternes illustrates. Dr Thomas Morgan is the lead author. He is currently a psychologist researcher at UC Berkeley. Dr Morgan said that the evolution of communication was triggered by stone tools. The study’s lead researcher is Dr. Thomas Morgan. Photo: UC Berkeley. Stone-knapping is a practice that dates back to eastern Africa’s Lower Paleolithic Period. It was still used for approximately 700,000years until Acheulean hand-axes, cleavers and more sophisticated Acheulean cleavers were developed. Stone-knapping was a practice of our earliest ancestors Homo habilis, and Australopithecus gairs (an older Australopithecus). The experiment involved teaching Oldowan stone-knapping techniques to 180 students. Scientists found that speaking communication is more efficient than non-verbal gestures or imitations in achieving the highest quality and largest number of flakes within the fastest time and with minimal waste. To measure transmission rates of old butchery technology and determine if language may be more effective, volunteers were split into 10-member learning chains. After a demonstration of knapping, the head of the chain was given five minutes and the raw materials. Next, the head of the chain would demonstrate knapping to the following participant. The latter then showed the material to the next person in the chain. Instructions given verbally were much more effective than teaching with no speech. Dr. Morgan stated that if someone wants to master a skill with lots of subtlety, they should engage in conversation and be corrected by a teacher. When someone tells you what to do, it makes learning so much quicker.” Dr. Morgan said that Oldowan hominins were not likely talking. They made these tools for 700,000 many years. People would be able to learn faster and develop new technologies quicker if they had language. Scientists say it would have been extremely hard for a hominin genius, such as an Oldowan Steve Job, to transmit his/her visionary ideas. The demand for Oldowan tools may have been the catalyst to language, learning, and teaching. This encouraged hominins communicate more effectively, which eventually led to the development of Acheulean hand-axes (and cleavers) approximately 1.7million years ago. Morgan said: “To maintain Acheulean tech, some sort of teaching and possibly even a type of language must have been going on. Even a proto-language that uses sounds or gestures to say ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘here, or there’.” There is no evidence of this being taught at the time of the Oldowan stone tool industry. It was likely that communication methods were developed to help teach the skill later. Dr. Morgan said, “Acheulean hand axes were taught to others at some point. This was when communication methods became available that could be used for teaching them.” Nature Communications. Article number: 6029. doi: 10.1038/ncomms7029. Video: Making Stone Age butchering tools Dr. Morgan shows how Stone Age hominins made sharp tools from rocks.
