The production of sharp stone tools for cutting has long been thought to be one of the features that separated early humans from the rest of the animal world — until now. It turns out wild bearded capuchin monkeys in Brazil produce sharp-edged stone flakes similar to those made by early Stone Age human ancestors. There’s one big difference: the human ancestors made their tools on purpose.
These capuchin monkeys smashed rocks into each other, producing the sharp stone flakes. However, the monkeys didn’t appear to use the flakes as tools, according to a study published today in Nature. The findings create new avenues for exploring how this early form of technology developed, and how intelligent hominins had to be in order to produce sharp...
via The Verge
