Running Head: BIOLOGY 1

How did the use of tools play a role in the evolution of humans?

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BIOLOGY 2

1-How did the use of tools play a role in the evolution of humans?

More than 140 years ago, Charles Darwin speculated that cultural behavior like stone tool

use influenced biological evolution. Evolution is a natural change of species characterization due

to adaptation and natural selection over successive generations. According to anthropologists at

the University of Kent, Charles Darwin speculation on tool use by our ancestors was indeed

influenced by the evolution of unique features in the human hand. The features of our hand’s

bones, muscles, and wrist were linked to certain movements like gripping and other manipulator

movements that are adapted for different functions as compared to other common ancestors.

Moreover, the use of simple cutting tools has been associated with natural selection for hands of

our ancestors, which is explained by use of stone flakes about 2.6 million years ago. Results

presented were significant correlation between biometric variation and task efficiency (Key,

2011). An article by Choi (2009) stated that stone tools are currently used by scientists in order

to determine the evolution pattern of human brains over time since tools are products of our

brains. The humans have created millions of different tools, which can help scientists tell how

we evolved based on the sophistication and development of tools over time.

2-Is tool use a trait unique to humans, or are there other animals that use tools? If so, how

do other animals use tools?

Looking at our world today, we can see that almost all of the inventions and development

today are created by humans. Humans have used tool more than 2 million years ago for survival

purposes like cutting, crushing, and obtaining meat from animals. Evidences show that stone

tools were used to butcher large animals as seen in cutting marks of fossil bones. Other

evidences showed tools used for cooking, hunting, carving, and fishing (Smithsonian, 2018).

However, some animals also utilize tools for daily purposes like the chimpanzees that make tools
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for searching ants or termites. They also create stone anvil and hammer stone for opening oil

palm nuts, sharpened spears for hunting, and prepared sticks for searching ants. On the other

hand, crows use their beaks to pick up sticks as a tool to scoop food and open shells (Feltman,

2016). Archerfish are known for shooting waterjets to hunt their prey above and underwater.

Study by Stefan Schuster stated that archerfish use their jets as tools, which is similar in the way

human uses spears (Coghlan, 2017). Tools are not unique to humans since other animals utilize

make-shift and simple tools as part of their survival.

3-When do scientists believe that either Homo sapiens, or an ancestor of Homo sapiens,

first began to use tools. What is the evidence that supports this conclusion?

Tools are very essential in human’s survival because it is used for a variety of purposes

like hunting and eating. Anthropologists excavated thousands of archeological sites and found

different hominin species have used tools since the dawn of their time. Studies have shown the

use of earliest stone tools in Early Stone Age (2.6 million years ago) by Oldowans, which

comprised stone flakes, hammer stones, and stone cores. These were found in Lokalalei, Kenya

and dated to be around 2.3 million years ago (Smithsonian, 2018). Sharp stones and hammer

stones shows battering on their surfaces, and stone cores show flake scars around the edges.

Early humans have also created the Acheulean hand axes, for a variety of purposes, around 1.7

million years ago found in Asia, Africa, and Europe. These evidences are supported by stone tool

use in human evolution and meat-eating of early humans. Homo rufolfensis used stone tools and

ate meats and plants around 1.8 million years ago while Homo habilis were species linked to the

origin of tool making behavior, thus, the name “handy man”. Other studies present evidences

that dates butchering of fossilized bones around 3.4 million years ago at the time of

Australopithecus afarensis, which is known as the first human ancestor tool maker and meat
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lover (Pobiner, 2016). Scientists are currently gathering more evidences to determine if Homo

was the first stone tool makers.

References:

Choi, C. Q. (2009, November 11). Human Evolution: The Origin of Tool Use. Retrieved from

https://www.livescience.com/7968-human-evolution-origin-tool.html

Coghlan, A. (n.d.). Spitting archerfish shoot at prey above and beneath the water. Retrieved from

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2118582-spitting-archerfish-shoot-at-prey-above-

and-beneath-the-water/

Early Stone Age Tools. (2018, September 14). Retrieved from

http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/behavior/stone-tools/early-stone-age-tools

Feltman, R. (2016, October 19). These monkeys are creating tools thought to be unique to

humans - by accident. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-

of-science/wp/2016/10/19/these-monkeys-are-creating-tools-thought-to-be-unique-to-

humans-by-accident/?utm_term=.2e690e588b9a

Key, A. J., & Lycett, S. J. (2011). Technology based evolution? A biometric test of the effects of

handsize versus tool form on efficiency in an experimental cutting task. Journal of

Archaeological Science, 38(7), 1663-1670. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.02.032

Pobiner, B., Smithsonian, & Human Origins Program. (2018, October 02). The First Butchers.

Retrieved from https://www.sapiens.org/evolution/homo-sapiens-and-tool-making/

Tools & Food. (2018, September 14). Retrieved from http://humanorigins.si.edu/human-

characteristics/tools-food