Early Stone Tool Use and the Evolution of Human Cognition

Abstract

Modern humans display a unique degree of social and cognitive complexity. As species we are capable of creating diverse and complex technologies to overcome the limitations of our biology and our external environments. This observed mental uniqueness, has led many researches to coin behavioural and cognitive complexity as the ‘hallmark of humanity’ and ‘behavioural modernity’. Human intelligence has evolved through time and selection, and we as a species owe our current abilities to the evolutionary precursors which came before us. Researchers in the burgeoning field of paleocognition have sought to identify the emergence of our human-like cognition within our hominin lineage through the analysis of the hominin brain size and stone tool technologies produced by extant hominins. Paleocognitive researchers have begun to systematically approach such complex issues as defining human cognition, testing long held assumptions about great ape and human cognitive analogies, and ultimately identifying the evolution of our uniquely human intelligence