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Science 9 September 1994:
Vol. 265. no. 5178, pp. 1570 - 1573
DOI: 10.1126/science.8079169
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Articles

Science, Vol 265, Issue 5178, 1570-1573
Copyright © 1994 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

Fossil evidence for early hominid tool use

RL Susman

Department of Anatomical Sciences, School of Medicine, State University at Stony Brook, NY 11794-8081.

Although several Plio-Pleistocene hominids are found in association with stone and bone tools, it has been generally assumed that at any one time the hominid with the largest brain was the toolmaker. Fossils recovered over the last decade suggest that early hominids subsequent to 2.5 million years ago all might have used tools and occupied "cultural" niches. A test for humanlike precision grasping (the enhanced ability to manipulate tools) is proposed and applied to australopithecines and early Homo. The results indicate that tools were likely to have been used by all early hominids at around 2.0 million years ago. The earliest australopithecines, which predate the appearance of stone tools in the archaeological record, do not show signs of advanced precision grasping.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The Representation of Tool Use in Humans and Monkeys: Common and Uniquely Human Features.
R. Peeters, L. Simone, K. Nelissen, M. Fabbri-Destro, W. Vanduffel, G. Rizzolatti, and G. A. Orban (2009)
J. Neurosci. 29, 11523-11539
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Upper-Limb Evolution and Development.
M. W. Marzke (2009)
J. Bone Joint Surg. Am. 91, 26-30
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The Human Genus.
B. Wood and M. Collard (1999)
Science 284, 65-71
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Evidence of hominid-like precision grip capability in the hand of the Miocene ape Oreopithecus.
S. Moya-Sola, M. Kohler, and L. Rook (1999)
PNAS 96, 313-317
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
What Capuchin Monkeys Can Tell Us About the Origins of Hominid Material Culture.
G. C. Westergaard (1998)
Journal of Material Culture 3, 5-19
   Abstract »    PDF »
Thumbs, tools, and early humans.
J. Ohman, M Slanina, G Baker, and R. Mensforth (1995)
Science 268, 587-589
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Thumbs up for our early ancestors.
L. Aiello (1994)
Science 265, 1540-1541
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