化石证据表明,早期的原始人使用工具
1Department of Anatomical Sciences, School of Medicine, State University at Stony Brook, NY 11794-8081.
概括
早期的原始人种,包括澳大利亚人猿和早期的Homo,大约在200万年前可能使用了工具. 这一发现挑战了只有大脑类人才是工具制造者的观点,这表明跨物种的工具使用范围更广.
科学领域:
- 古人类学古人类学.
- 考古学的考古学
- 灵长类动物学 灵长类动物学
背景情况:
- 传统上,被认为拥有最大大脑的原始人是唯一的工具制造者.
- 最近的化石发现表明,工具的使用可能比以前想象的更远.
- 了解早期的原始人能力对于重建人类进化历史至关重要.
研究的目的:
- 为了研究早期人类的工具制造能力,特别是澳大利亚甲动物和早期的Homo.
- 为了测试这个假设,工具使用在250万年前的早期人种中很普遍.
- 为了确定像人类一样精确的抓取能力与早期工具使用是否相关.
主要方法:
- 提出并应用了一种新的测试,以获得类似人类的精确抓取.
- 分析了来自澳大利亚甲动物和早期Homo的化石证据.
- 与石头和骨头工具的考古记录相关的手形态.
主要成果:
- 有证据表明,大约在200万年前,所有早期人类都可能使用工具.
- 在石器之前的澳大利亚罗皮特动物没有表现出先进的精确抓取.
- 早期的人类 (Homo) 和后来的澳大利亚甲动物 (Australopithecines) 显示出与工具使用一致的迹象.
结论:
- 工具的使用很可能在2000万年前的各种早期人类物种中很常见.
- 精确的抓取能力进化,并存在于与工具使用相关的早期人类.
- 这挑战了关于早期工具制造和使用的认知要求的先前假设.
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