Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-pwrkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-06T23:44:53.208Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Human tool behavior is species-specific and remains unique

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2012

Susan Cachel
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1414. cachel@rci.rutgers.edu

Abstract

Human tool behavior is species-specific. It remains a diagnostic feature of humans, even when comparisons are made with closely related non-human primates. The archaeological record demonstrates both the deep antiquity of human tool behavior and its fundamental role in distinguishing human behavior from that of non-human primates.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Cachel, S. (2009) Natural history intelligence and hominid tool behavior. In: Tools of the trade. Methods, techniques, and innovative approaches in archaeology, ed. Wilkins, J. & Anderson, K., pp. 1329. University of Calgary Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emery, N. J. & Clayton, N. S. (2004) The mentality of crows: Convergent evolution of intelligence in corvids and apes. Science 306:1903–907.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fragaszy, D., Izar, P., Visalberghi, E., Ottoni, E. B. & Gomes, De Oliveira, M. (2004) Wild capuchin monkeys (Cebus libidinosus) use anvils and stone pounding tools. American Journal of Primatology 64(4):359–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGrew, W. (1992) Chimpanzee material culture: Implications for human evolution. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mercader, J., Panger, M. & Boesch, C. (2002) Excavation of a chimpanzee stone tool site in the African rainforest. Science 296:1452–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Povinelli, D. J., Reaux, J.E., Theall, L.A. & Giambrone, S. (2000) Folk physics for apes: The chimpanzee's theory of how the world works. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Shumaker, R. W., Walkup, K. R. & Beck, B. B. (2011) Animal tool behavior. The Johns Hopkins University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar