Monkeys have been observed producing sharp stone flakes that closely resemble the earliest known tools made by our ancient relatives, proving that this ability is not uniquely human. The latest observations re-write this view, showing that monkeys unintentionally produce almost identical artefacts simply by smashing stones together. The monkeys typically pounded their chosen stone on embedded quartz cobbles and then licked the quartz dust that this produced. But the findings could be relevant to future discoveries of even earlier, unrefined stone flake collections. “This is putting us on notice that if we find knapped or struck stone tools in the archeological record, they’re not necessarily cutting tools,” he said.

Source: The Guardian October 19, 2016 16:52 UTC