The Art and Craft of Paleo Toolmaking [Slide Show]
Fashioning stone-age tools is no picnic. Emory researchers spend years learning to imitate the technological skills of human ancestors who lived hundreds of thousands of years ago
A flint hand-ax (Acheulean technology) made at Emory sits on a piece of flint, the raw material from which it was made. Different kinds of hammers used in production of the hand-ax are shown: stone hammers of varying size and hardness, and two antler billets (moose and elk), the latter used to strike “soft hammer” thinning flakes from the stone.
Gregory Miller
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Reverse engineering ancient toolmaking practices provides a sort of time machine that takes scientists back to extract ideas about the cognitive abilities of our relatives from eons past. Researchers at Emory University teach students how to make two classes of stone age implements—Acheulean and Oldowan technologies—and observe what’s happening inside their skulls using brain scanners. The differences in scanner activity seen in the more advanced Acheulean technology may provide clues as to how brains evolved to become capable of fabricating more sophisticated tools. Anthropology professor Dietrich Stout discusses his work in experimental archeology in the April Scientific American.
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