Assessment Questions 3.8

Capuchin monkeys in Brazil are observed cracking open tough nut shells by placing them on stone or wooden platforms serving as anvils and then smashing them with hard stone hammers.

Chimpanzees in the TaΪ Forest use hard volcanic rocks as hammers to crack open nutshells. They position the nuts on bedrock outcrops or exposed tree roots serving as anvils and strike them with the igneous hammers.

Researchers suggest the possibility that early hominins, inspired by accidentally breaking stone hammers and producing sharp flakes, recognized the utility of the flakes. They propose that hominins then intentionally and consistently produced sharp stone flakes for various purposes like butchering animals or cutting fiber.