Stone age tools required greater brain power claims study

I’m filing this story in my ‘dodgy dossier’ drawer along with aromatherapy-crystal-dowsing and Alastair Campbell’s Iraq-WMD file, but I report it here in the interests of completeness.

Stone Age humans were only able to develop relatively advanced tools after their brains evolved a greater capacity for complex thought, according to a new study that investigates why it took early humans almost two million years to move from razor-sharp stones to a hand-held stone axe. Researchers used computer modelling and tiny sensors embedded in gloves to assess the complex hand skills that early humans needed in order to make two types of tools during the Lower Palaeolithic period, which began around 2.5 million years ago. The cross-disciplinary team, involving researchers from Imperial College London, employed a craftsperson called a flintnapper to faithfully replicate ancient tool-making techniques.

Read the full story here:-
http://machineslikeus.com/news/stone-age-humans-needed-more-brain-power-make-big-leap-tool-design

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UK’s oldest home shows evidence of carpentry

A team of archaeologists from the Universities of Manchester and York have reported that a home excavated in Yorkshire dates to at least 8,500 BC – when Britain was still part of continental Europe.The research team unearthed the 3.5 metres circular structure next to an ancient lake at Star Carr, near Scarborough, a site comparable in archaeological importance to Stonehenge. The team is currently excavating a large wooden platform next to the lake, made of timbers which have been split and hewn. The platform is the earliest evidence of carpentry in Europe.

Read the full story in Science Daily here:- http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100810101724.htm