4,300-Year-old chimpanzee sites and the origins of percussive stone technology

Julio Mercader, Huw Barton, Jason Gillespie, Jack Harris, Steven Kuhn, Robert Tyler, Christophe Boesch

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

210 Scopus citations

Abstract

Archaeological research in the African rainforest reveals unexpected results in the search for the origins of hominoid technology. The ancient Panin sites from Côte d'Ivoire constitute the only evidence of prehistoric ape behavior known to date anywhere in the world. Recent archaeological work has yielded behaviorally modified stones, dated by chronometric means to 4,300 years of age, lodging starch residue suggestive of prehistoric dietary practices by ancient chimpanzees. The "Chimpanzee Stone Age" pre-dates the advent of settled farming villages in this part of the African rainforest and suggests that percussive material culture could have been inherited from an common human-chimpanzee clade, rather than invented by hominins, or have arisen by imitation, or resulted from independent technological convergence.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)3043-3048
Number of pages6
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume104
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 27 2007

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

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