The Evolution of Tool-Using and Tool-Making Behaviour

Abstract

The author attempts partially to reconstruct the behavioural context which coevolved with tool-using and tool-making in the hominid lineage. Three early hominid artefact occurrences are reviewed with special attention paid to artefact attributes, artefact assemblages and the geographical locations of artefact sites. The osteodontokeratic culture is discussed. Ethological studies of free-living nonhuman primates are then reviewed noting behavioural patterns that accompany tool-using behaviour. The author proposes that the emergence of reflexion, innovation, object and symbol manipulation, observational and trial and error learning, intentional and unintentional modelling, and intentional linguistic instruction can be partially reconstructed by archaeological analyses and cross-species comparisons