<HTML>"Tools, Termites and Hominids
By Michael A. Stowe
In the 1960s, primate researcher Jane Goodall observed modern chimpanzees using crude implements to harvest termites in Tanzania in central Africa. Soon after, paleoanthropologists were using Goodall’s model to gauge the social and cultural adaptation of early hominids throughout Africa.
Now scientists are finding evidence that early hominids did the same thing. Lucinda Backwell of South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand and Francesco d’Errico of the University of Bordeaux discovered unique wear patterns on more than 100 bone tools more than 2 million years old. Sophisticated image-analysis shows these tools were used for digging and foraging in much the same way as tools used by the modern chimps.
“Two types of hominid are always associated with the bone tool, namely early Homo and Australopithecus robustus,” Backwell says. “Only a handful of bone tools are known from this period in East Africa.”
The researchers analyzed bone-tool collections from modern chimps and the early hominids and found very little difference between modern and prehistoric tools. The conclusion: Ancient hominids, like modern chimps, feasted on termites and used tools to gather them.
“This,” Backwell says, “is the first conclusive evidence of tool use linked to a specific food resource at this time depth. We do not know who used the tools, but new techniques, including isotope analysis and tooth microwear studies, hold promise of an answer.” MAS"
It's old news.</HTML>
