3.4M YO Cut Marks From Stone Tools

[paleo_joe]

The oldest stone tools known are about 2.6M years old, but these marks are about 800,000 years older than that. Of course, not everyone agrees.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/12/sc...s.html?_r=1&hp

[drdave514]

Good article. I'm more stunned that it's already sparked such a debate. The idea that an early primate would use a stone to access the marrow of a bone....... how is that a stretch?

We've got primates that can have short conversations by punching picture buttons on a computer that talks for them. They have been shown to use tools of sorts and clearly have the intelect to adapt situations to achieve their goals in ways that are outside the 'lizard brain' behavior of other animals.

I just don't see where this is THAT big of a surprise and why there would be such sudden and swift opposition to the idea.

[paleo_joe]

Excellent point. If my dogs had thumbs, it would not surprise me to find them using rocks to get to the inside of the bone. For that matter, if they had thumbs, I'd start wondering about my power tools

But there are probably a lot of scientists who have written papers that talk about Homo and tool usage who now find their theories under question. I can't see that I would enjoy reading something like "As new data has shown, Paleo_joe was clearly wrong in his assessment...." but that is the scientific process. Just look at the inordinate amount of drama and personalities involved with defending Clovis-first.