Early Humans: Making Tools To start with, it is useful to remember that the use of tools and tool making are not confined to humans. Birds are known to make objects to assist them with feeding, hygiene and social encounters; and while foraging for food some chimpanzees use tools that they have made. However, there are some features of human tool making that are not known among apes. As we have seen (see p.
), certain anatomical and neurological (related to the nervous system) adaptations have led to the skilled use of hands, probably due to the important role of tools in human lives. Moreover, the ways in which humans use and make tools often require greater memory and complex organisational skills, both of which are absent in apes. The earliest evidence for the making and use of stone tools comes from sites in Ethiopia and Kenya (see Map ). It is likely that the earliest stone tool makers were the Australopithecus .
This is a reconstruction of a hut at Terra Amata. The large stone boulders were used to support the sides of the hut. The small scatters of stone on the floor were places where people made stone tools. The black spot marked with an arrow indicates a hearth.
In what ways do you think life for those who lived in this shelter would be different from that of the hominids who lived on trees? Some early tools. These tools were found in Olduvai. The one above is a chopper.
This is a large stone from which flakes have been removed to produce a working edge. The one below is a hand axe. Can you suggest what these tools may have been used for? As in the case of other activities, we do not know whether tool making was done by men or women or both.
It is possible that stone tool makers were both women and men. Women in particular may have made and used tools to obtain food for themselves as well as to sustain their children after weaning. About , years ago, improvements in