Early Modern Humans Used Fire To Engineer Tools From Stone; Complex Cognition Older Than 72,000 Years?
Thursday, August 13, 2009 - 20:28
in Paleontology & Archaeology
New evidence has been found showing that early modern humans living on the southern coast of Africa 72,000 years ago employed pyrotechnology -- the controlled use of fire -- to increase the quality and efficiency of their stone tool manufacturing process. This technology required a novel association between fire, its heat, and a structural change in stone with consequent flaking benefits; findings ignite notion of complex cognition in these early engineers.