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Stefan wonderfull story could you please cover "Multiregionalism in Africa" and incredible genetic diversity on this continent? It's totally ignored! ❤ In May 2023 Genetics did disproven finally idea that our specie was born in any single región of Africa in particular! Could You cover San people, Pygmies and MHC on chromosome 6 diversity in particular?
hey stefan, thoughts on the recent paper about anthropophagy at Koobi Fora (probably Homo preying on possibly Paranthropus?) in re the Paranthropus molar found in association with butchered animals? paleo anthro student and mega Kenyanthropus fanboy myself so i’m unsure if i’ve pigeonholed myself into K. platyops as the Lomekwi toolmakers, as opposed to Australopithecus or Paranthropus. would love to know more! well good as always. :)
Omg Stefan you gotta put that beautiful artwork of an elderly and toddler hominin gazing at a stone tool as the Thumbnail! Its an absolutely beautiful drawing!!
Dear Stefan, your channel is easily the best on the topic of prehistoric Archaeology for how simply you put even the most complex topics, making easy to understand them even to non-expert people. I am a medieval archaeologist and I really appreciate you and what you do. Cheers from Italy!
I think his real gift is the fact that he isn't a trained expert. He brings the wonder and at least some of the ignorance that we all have on these topics and is able to get amazing and understandable explanations from the real experts.
I love how you often interview people who are experts on the topic or site you are discussing. It's great to see passionate scientists get a platform to talk about their excellent work.
Anyone who has knapped stone tools knows the kinds of skills needed to get workable lithics. They also know the dangers involved in making stone tools. If you're not careful, you can give yourself some really bad wounds. I'd love to see what they were using as knapping tools. It can be difficult finding really good hammer stones. Choose poorly and you get a shattering stone in your dominant hand. These hominids were skilled and experienced. Thanks for bringing this at our attention Stefan.
I read "Clan of the Cave Bear" by Jean Auel when I was 9. I then proceeded to get half the neighbourhood playing Neanderthal along with me. I can't tell you the hours I spent banging on rocks, trying to weave grass into baskets, or make a sling. Keep in mind this was in the early 80's so no internet. I can say definitively that random rock bashing will _not_ create a hand ax and has a high likelihood of resulting in a smooshed digit.
@@CorwinFound Cor, that is one hell of a book to tackle at 9! What did your young self make of the more ‘adult’ elements of the story, I wonder? I was shocked by the rape and sexual assault at 12! If my parents had known they would have discouraged my reading it. Thank god they were too busy to monitor my reading that closely. It’s still one of the best books I have ever read.
I can say with confidence videos like this have changed the direction of my life. Your videos, in particular those on le principe, lucy and cave art, sent me on a frenzy of exploring anthropology. I applied to study Human Sciences at Oxford university last year (your videos featured in my personal statement) and hopefully (results day permitting) I will be begin my study there this October. I one day aspire to be putting out research and imagine myself in the place of those you interview. I appreciate you and the work you do making these topics accessible. :) Update: I got the grades to go and will leave this weekend :)
Wow Kiara, I think I speak for all people in wishing you the best of luck with your future endeavors! You have taken the catch phrase “Follow your PASSION” to a whole new level and hopefully that passion will take you places that go well beyond your current imagination! Best wishes -
Brilliant episode, Stefan. I used skip school and bunk in to the London zoo just to watch the chimpanzees especially the young ones in the nursery. The nursery had a huge glass window this was around 1968. There was a moment when one young chimpanzee put it's hands flat on the glass facing me I could see the fingerprints of the young chimp it was a revelationary moment for me from that point on I was a confirmed evolutionists. I was ten years old.
Back in the early 90s my mom rented 2 chimps for my kindergarten birthday party, I have pics of them jumping on the trampoline with my friends lol I highly doubt that's allowed anymore but it was a better time lol
When my wife and I had our son, I looked forward to watching his development. It wasn’t the primitive grasping reflex, Moro reflex, or the other things he displayed when an infant that showed me how closely we are related to primates. Now that he is 8 and running around the house, bouncing on the furniture like a chimpanzee, leaping from couch to couch like a spider monkey, screeching like a howler monkey… now, now I am CONVINCED - in a visceral way.
Stefan's channel is such a relief from the never ending stress that life has become. I love his approach too. His positivity and light hearted humor are exactly what I need right now! ❤❤❤
Nets and cordage were almost certainly older than pebble choppers. Gorillas weave straw, orangs make hammocks out of vines. If two relatives that split off millions of years ago make cordage, then it is very unlikely that our ancestors did not make cordage. The basket, nets, etc. likely predate any shaped stones.
Still, we have no way of knowing, since cordage was probably made of leaves, vines, or other grasses. What I’m trying to say, is even if they did (they probably did) weave baskets/cordage, they wouldn’t survive as long as the rock tools because of decomposition and stuff.
Maybe one day we’ll be fortunate enough to find a trace fossil or somehow ice preserved example of early cordage, id love for it to be me to discover it 😂
I knew cordage and fibercraft was ridiculously old, but it never occurred to me that other great apes also use forms of fibercraft. That re-writes my brain a little bit! It's of course very possible that using plants to make stuff developed separately multiple times in our evolutionary branches - we probably won't ever know for sure - but just the fact that they do it does seem to imply that it's a process that could date back to at least the earliest members of Homo. Twisting and weaving flexible stuff into patterns is kind of a natural instinct for us, I think; it's not impossible to imagine that we were doing it before we were making stones into sharper stones.
Can I just say, I really, really appreciate the subtitles you write for all your videos! They're really descriptive and humorous at times, and obviously them being hand written in the first place makes them very high quality. I'm not deaf, but I find it difficult to process multiple senses at the same time, so I always use subtitles to help me :)
idk how you dont have at least a million subs by now, your content is impeccable, i love that you actually interview people instead of just citing their papers
Its incredible the tools were made right there at Lemekwi. That means that as youre digging out these stones youre sitting quite possibility in the same spot an early human sat in 3.3 million years ago. It amazes me to think about how unnew our world is
Wow, this was so good! I had never heard Lomekwi. Fascinating. Evan Patrick Wilson's hirsute magnificence also shines brightly and inspires me almost as much as this certified banger of a video.
I'm with you on the admiration of Wilson's absolutely gorgeous hair & beard! Holy heck, I was unironically drooling over his not-a-hair-out-of-place perfection. I consider myself acutely jealous. My apologies to Mr. Wilson, I don't normally mentally pounce on people like that, but his appearance is a work of art. All I have is a shadow of a beard in comparison. I've all but given up on the hair. 🤣 BTW, OP, your username is hilarious. Love it!
The quality of this video blows me away, I’m studying computer science and anthropology at Boston University and your channel was one of my inspirations to study human origins.
I gained my archaeology degree in 2003 at UOA. I was fantastically lucky to have three mentors to encourage and support me. I love your insight, masterful oration and passion! Nice one bro, respect. 👍🏽
@@privateprivate5928 Remuneration? I gained a student debt debt I didn't pay off until I was in my 40's. I have a post-graduate degree in archaeology. I have never gained a mountain summit. What is your point?
Stefan, your content is so engaging it needs to be seen by the masses. Is so entertaining. You explain everything so everyone can understand what you are talking about! I watch so many prehistory channels and they use the technical terms without explaining what they mean. You need to have your own Netflix special, series, channel. I need your stories every week if possible. Love your work. Please keep up the context.
In short, and ideal for brief Michealmass consideration: Our supposititious trajectory currently imposed as fact on the available data (aka what we like to call 'evolution') is ... misleading. And that not only in terms of scholarly categorisation (how we choose to label stuff) but also in relation to the innate animal (ensouled e.g. psychologically endowed) capacity of some beings - to do 'things'. Did making tools, therefore, re-make 'us' as us (advanced Lamarckian style trajectory-wise) or did 'we' just make tools better than others because we were changing into 'us' (simplistic Darwinian type trajectory-wise), or something (as yet not associated with a 'name'; e.g. Milo-ian) that is rather less trajectorily-modified 'evolving' in nature but a rather more diffusely-developmentalised change, i.e. rolling ad hoc (humming a tune) rather than flowing metrically (dancing to a strict-tempo beat)*? ;o) * Or, if you prefer, an ordinary googly rather than a carrom-bah-cha-cha ball. Howzat! And so another (dampish) British cricketing summer flew by.
As interesting as archaeology is, I strongly recommend you study geology first because there’s very little work in archaeology and what there is lays very little
Absolutely fascinating! I didn't want it to end. Thanks chaps! A beautiful, thought provoking video full of wonder and I could feel them at the brink of the cascade of technology that surrounds us.
The piece that was knapped with the shell on the face made me cry. It might have been just how the rock broke or whatever, but I'm a romantic and I like to think the maker thought it was pretty or special and carefully tried to make the tool around the shell. And they were happy when it worked out. Paleoanthropology, man. What a trip.
When I was a little girl I asked my father, a scientist and artist, how arrowheads were made. We were sitting in the car waiting for my mother; he whipped out his ever present drawing pad and showed me how, illustrating as he talked. I tried to make one myself. He told me I had the right idea but the wrong materials, lol. In the 1950s he also told me I could do anything a man could do, much to my mother’s horror. Both my parents loved history and the house was full of books. My favorite book was one on evolution…much changed since then, but a good introduction during a time when it was still illegal to teach it in some states. Thanks to that lesson, I’d never question the idea that folks were making and using tools well before modern humans emerged. I find it touching that a tool was found in a Neanderthal burial…tools were labor intensive to find/make and of great value. It makes me wonder if this person excelled at what he made so was buried with the tool. Where would our early ancestors be without the ability to look at a large rock, wonder if it would be useful, remember where they could find similar rocks and, biggest wonder of all determine that rock could be used to make something also useful? This is why I stopped using the word ‘’primitive” decades ago. Where would we, even as scientists, be without wonder? This video was a delight for this old lady to watch.
Your father seems like an amazing man. Thank you for sharing that story. My mother was an anthropologist and having books everywhere was also my childhood. Even the Arrowhead thing was almost exactly what I did as a kid haha! There's just something about our ancestors that still lives within us I think, that's why we're driven to do things like that as kids and to have the curiosity we exhibit as adults. I believe evolution goes hand in hand with our curiosity as well as our survival. Idk if you know what an "adle adle" is but I did end up successfully making one haha. Never an arrowhead though but there's still time!
I think we should start seeing this as an extremely slow process. Then it wouldn't be so surprising what those 'people' came up with. I mean, if pets can figure out that some things work better then others it's not so hard to imagine a creature figuring out that a strangely shaped stone they found by accident works better then a normal one. Then a bit later they start noticing stones falling from mountains have different shapes or even throwing away a stone after using it, falling on another stone creates one with a different shape. There will always be smarter individuals picking up these details and try to do something with that information.
I think that ignores the co-occurring genetic evolution that is happening with the cultural evolution. What makes things interesting is that we can't really teach chimps these complicated processes nowadays. So the question is when did the *capability* to do that come about. Obviously it was driven by a cultural evolution that made their subsistence strategy such that the best tool makers had the most kids. But eventually it led to a novel capability that could be more generally applied.
Stefan, I believe I speak for all your long-time viewers when I say: We miss your microphone spoooooon. You are the best, down to Earth, speak using common sense, non-arrogant language. Magical. Best archaeological teacher I've ever known. Thanks, buddy. You're making a big difference to young and old.
Great video mate. I always stop what I'm doing and watch whenever you drop something new. It's a sobering thought to think that our ancient relatives even if they aren't in the genus homo all were making and using tools at the same time and similar places, while all walking around upright. It's scary how relatable those thought processes are they must have had in order to make those tools.
Omg i look forward to watching your Olmec project. Make sure to please cover all the mystery and lore behind where they come from. It’s still a mystery till this day
Just got done with your most recent video, and despite it being 4 a.m. i couldn’t resist this topic. You’re such a special creator and you ask the right questions at the right times, so happy i found your channel.
Congratulations on making such a professional, authoritative and beguiling video. I taught this material for decades to Y13 students in New Zealand and I wish your video had been available then. Interesting to see K. platyops being brought back into he picture too. Having the field workers actively taking part in the video added to the authenticity and interest They were both articulate and interesting speakers and i will be doing a quick search now to find out more info on them. One question: who is the author of the lovely art work on Hominins that featured every so often?
I wish i could sit around a campfire with a bunch of friends and talk with you Stefan, listen to your stories. Im riveted, glued, to every word. Visceral you are. You got a great voice for naration. Not to fast not too slow. Soothing even. And your love for the subject just spills over on everybody. The visuals and art are well done especially for a guy in the back room. Please just carry on...im right there with you hanging on every word. I might just get some skulls...they are mesmerizing. Thank you Stefan...!
I’ve been reading an older book, called “The Axemaker’s gift”, by two authors, Burke and Ornstein. It suggests that the increase in our intellectual capacity to reason and create, began with making stone tools, such as hand axes. The steps from early hominids to our species, are explained, I am finding it a fascinating read. Very much enjoy your videos, Stefan, this one really resonated since I’ve been reading this book! It also suggests language originated, as the tool makers would need to show and explain to apprentices, how to make them.
The thing that most separates us from other primates really seems to be speech. As much as Chomsky irritates me with is attacks on social science I tend to agree with that conclusion. Cooking our food and telling stories around the campfire really feel crucial to our development to me.
I love the idea that technology shaped our evolution, not always the other way around. Cooking food is a great example. The first times were accidents assuredly, but something in the very early human brain realized the benefit and started doing it on purpose. But then the cooked food allowed for a decrease in jaw size, allowing the cranium to expand without having to have huge connections for jaw muscles, which lead to a bigger brain, and more technology that would continue to impact our evolution. It's a truly wonderful feedback loop. Evolution leads to technology that impacts evolution etc etc.
Something I appreciate about your channel more than I can express is that you take the time to make accurate subtitles. Auto-generated subtitles very often mid-transcribe non-American accents, and also very often mis-transcribe scientific terms. It’s incredibly frustrating and a disservice to people who rely on subtitles or transcriptions to watch videos, and the care you take matters a great deal. Thank you
What an amazing video! Absolutely eye opening and comparing the monkey's use of tools, both similarities and differences was brilliant. It's too bad the video ended on a such a sad note - the discoveries we will probably never make. We'll never know who first used a spear or made a basket to carry goods. Those are technologies just as critical as a hand ax but we can't ever explore those and what they mean about how our brains evolved because they can't be found.
To me it’s obvious they were made from the beginning. Why would humans who have an ego, assume they were stupid? It’s like saying cats are stupid but refuse to drink sitting water in the wild. We were born with instincts. This is the most basic form of instinct. You don’t need critical thinking skills to make something to hold things. Or notice seeds grow. You see it grow. It’s ridiculous.
Is there a way that I can watch the talk you three had? While the video you made is good, I really want to nerd out on all the little details in the conversation that were cut out to make it more understandable/palatable to a wider audience. Thanks! You earned a sub today.
As you were coming to the end of the conversation, and speculating about how our ancestors settled on the "phonolite" rock to use, my mind wondered to a bored youth, some million years ago. As they're hanging out at the familycamp, they start absentmindedly picking up rocks and banging them against other rocks, keeping the one that doesn't break. When an adult comes over to make them stop making loud sounds, they notice that some rocks have sharp edges. "Hey! That sharp edge looks nice. I wonder if that would cut animal hide?" ... And a tradition began.
I told North 02 (in his comments as I don’t know him) that you guys need to be friends. You two are my favorite. Very different documentary styles yet both the best and both with a lot of heart. Thanks for teaching me all kinds of amazing things
I'm so happy that you are a single woman with a cat and snake. Freud would have understood the symbolism but like me he would have been left wondering about relevance to this video topic.
Something which occurs to me (a retired geologist) is that the craftsmen have recognised certain rocks which can be knapped into tools, which cannot be done with any rock casually found. I would like to find the source outcrop of this kind of rock which they used. Would this yield more knapped tools? It would certainly show how far people would take the cobbles which they have found, and possibly barter them for other desired things. Rocks were carried for large distances across Australia for the purpose of trade. The native Australians were, until fairly recently a Stone Age culture, which seems to me disregarded by the archaeological community.
You are correct. As a flint knapper for many years....the first skill is to be able to identify knappable stone. That said, some of the artifacts shown appeared to be of extremely poor quality stone. Possibly that was the only stone available. The one "head sized" stone, with the multiple small flakes along one edge may show an inexperienced knapper. Without going into detail, and experienced knapper wouldn't make that mistake. Possibly this may point to the beginnings of the development of knapping skills.
I've learned so much from your channel. It's become one of my favorites. I was homeschooled for many years growing up, and I was never taught evolution or anything factual about the history of the Earth. Luckily I get to learn now and it's incredibly fascinating. I'm going back to school in 3 months as a neuroscience major and your channel, along with a few others, has inspired me to take a few anthropology classes along the way. Really looking forward to it! Thank you!!!
Creating stone tool, and stone knapping in general is a fascinating process, it's definitely on an other level than a chimp using a branch to get ants or a rock to crack nuts. You kind of need to understand the crystalline structure of the rock itself to get some results, you also need a lot of dexterity and practice and a cultural background, or at least someone to teach you. This is a brilliant video!
As a Geoarchaeologist, I appreciate your caution in interpreting the stones as tools. From the photos, they look like tools to me. But there are so many unsubstantiated assertions on the web that people will believe anything. The Oldawan and Acheulean tools I have examined are all fine-grained quartzite. Is this material available at your sites? Fascinating work y'all are doing. Thanks.
Excellent video! Reminds me of my dad in a lot of ways. My dad was a brick layer, he spent most of his life doing custom jobs and made a mark in our town for his eccentric touch to his brick laying. What made him unique was his ability to cut the bricks. He’d chop them up by scoring with a blade and hacking at them with his trowel. He’d make all these shapes and then mortar it together in beautiful patterns. I imagine early man doing the same exact thing with the tools and stones available. The angles, square pressure, natural direction of the stone, and the use of fire. The effect river water has on stone. No way early man didn’t see all that and put it together.
Boy am I glad I discovered you, I have been listening to The Prehistory Guys for a couple of years and was yearning for more. Your material is fantastic, I couldn’t hit the subscribe button fast enough.
These findings really make me think that stone tool use was something a proto-homonid species was doing and that it proliferated down amongst all the species of Homo, it also makes the discovery and use of fire seem much more natural because smacking two rocks together is bound to make sparks causing small fires and triggering a curious apes curiosity. The timeline for the evolutionary changes brought along through the use of fire also lines up with these 3+ million year old tools. Very interesting stuff.
Awesome video. You're getting better with each production. I particularly like these in which you talk with the people doing the research, ask questions and translate for us. Thank you. The key point for me was the comment that the materials can't just be smashed at random, hoping you'll find something useful in the shards. The energy budget of gathering and working those materials requires a better success rate. This epitomizes the higher level thinking involved. The process that involves the questions about; is this useful, how can I improve this, what can I do now, what can I do better next time. Video/interview ideas: is the Kelp Highway guy still at Oregon State? Is there an expert on subduction zone geology who might now of uplifted areas that may have preseved ice age sites from rising sea levels. (When I think of this I imagine that someone else has considered it and done the research.)
Thanks for your Videos! Going on holidays with my parents always meant going from museums to temples to ruins to caves to megaliths all day. So I was quite preexposed to archaeology and already had an interest. But your videos sparked my interest anew and made me switch my subject at university to prehistoric archaeology last year, and now I start to know all the sites you are taliking about in your videos. Keep up the good work!
I didn't think Paranthropus went back as dar as 2.6 to 3 million years old. It's not the first time their remains have been found with Olduwan tools either. I can't imagine Habilis being able to take down a Paranthropus. This is fascinating, thank you.
You bring up an interesting thing to consider. Were some (or all) of the tools that were made at Lowmekwi 3 used for protection/weapons against competitors or predators, as opposed to only processing animals or plants for food? It is likely that life was pretty dangerous for a smallish primate at that time in that place...lots of carnivores, and possibly even larger primates that could be dangerous and were to be avoided.
Hi, Stefan! I attended a field school in July/Aug 2010 with the Univ. Of Colorado Denver at Laetoli, Tanzania. Near the end of our excavation, my 2m x 2m unit produced two incisors that got a cursory evaluation as from Homo habilis. Also in that same unit was a stone I thought fit the Olduwan technology, or what little I knew about it. Both the professor who hosted the field school and a well known UK scientist in attendance (she helped me excavate my unit that day) said it was just a stone, nothing to see here. But I still think it was a tool. Your video shows me I may be correct. I have three photos of the rock, but none of the incisors. The stone is the original, rounded shape on one side and flakes "removed" on the other. Again, it does not seem plausible that falling or tumbling would have created that teardrop shape, since the dimensions are only about 9 cm long and 6 cm wide.
From one Stefan to another: keep up your great work, it’s not only educating us viewers, but it’s so much positivity, fascination, enjoyment that you are spreading. Your family will be truly happy and thankful for having you around the way that you are, even when sitting in your cave at 5:30 in the morning nerding on about rocks. ❤
Hey I just found this channel and I am huge on world history in general, specifically ancient history of humans that we all learned about in our youth , hopefully(Mesopotamia, Sumer, The Sea People, Bronze Age collapse , Inca, Han in ancient China etc ) so I really don’t know all too much about how this field of research exactly is able to see the rocks at image 9:30 and know that they are indeed tools made by our ancestors? I don’t doubt it at all I am just extremely interested in this suddenly. It’s like crime scene detectives but only having your imagination and intuition to truly rely on. But I am new to this , it’s just amazing to think the amount of times any of us have might have just been feet above or next to one of these tools made thousands and thousands , potentially millions, of years ago. Inspiring really . Thank you
A really fascinating presentation. To me the key point you made, is that these tools weren't just accidentally made, there was considerable purpose and experience in their making. A long prior history, and cultural memory, leading up to these tools being created. The design, the forethought., goes well beyond any tools made by non-human animals now. Also, the thought processes, show that they were almost certainly making tools out of material that wouldn't last, such sticks, thorns, bar, plant fibre, and much more. I think the earliest tool use, would have been the stick age. As, sticks are the most numerous and versatile tools used by modern hunter-gatherers. A stick, totally transforms the abilities of those who wields it in a skilful way. That fossil shell in the middle of that hand axe, and I believe there older examples, must be early examples of art.
The background music during the episode was perfect for evoking an emotional response. That of awe. I totally could see that you were in awe of these early ancestors of humans making tools, and the transition to more elaborate tool making with later ancestors. Your passion for material like this really shines through and it totally makes sense that you have attracted an audience. I’m speaking as a musician and one who appreciates the making of music to elicit responses from an audience. Soundtrack music comes to mind, and how important it is in watching a movie, for example, and it’s role in helping the audience feel something. Anyways, I just wanted to let you know I appreciate that you’ve added that extra layer to YOUR storytelling. It’s very much appreciated. As always, I really enjoy your material and keep coming back for more. Thanks for being you, and putting it out to the world for all to see.
This is one of many Stefan Milo videos, when I get frustrated that RUclips does not have a multiple likes button. So often during Stefan's videos, I find myself grabbing my remote, only to realize I have already liked the video. Come on RUclips you can do better!
@24:40 Missed opportunity to use your million year old Acheulean tool to open the box for your 3 million year old Kenyanthropus Platyops skull*. *Model of skull
And if the Stone Age is being pushed that far back, can you imagine what that does to the Wood Age- the sticks and spears clubs that they improved upon with stone. 😅
Absolutely fascinating and I especially love your little phylosophical moments that really make this story so resonant. Beautiful work my man. Thank you so much for making this. Really moved me
Another excellent and exciting video! I never miss an episode because you never disappoint us. Some videos I watch several times. I didn't get to study this stuff in school and I'm wicked old so I rely on some of the great content creators on RUclips. You are one of the greats!
Stefan: I'm very grateful to you for your wonderful insights into past life. A few years ago, I developed a lecture on ancient horses and gained a parallel wealth of insight into their history. Thank you, George Gough
Course it turns out that the more that humans look carefully, the more they find that there are quite a number of other fellow creatures who use tools. Honey Badgers do, corvids, and...even some fish have been seen using tools. And while I might not fit the general definition of a "tool", a couple of years ago my daughter asked me why I suddenly got out of bed, walked to the bathroom and turned on the bath taps. I suddenly realized that my CAT, my bleeding CAT, had trained ME to respond this way every time HE rang a bell. I don't even know how he did it. There was a little bell hanging off a nail on a door frame. And somehow he had managed to train me up so that each time he wanted some nice cool running water, he'd ring the bell with his paw, and without even being aware I was doing it, I'd go turn on the bath taps, then stand there waiting while he had his drink, after which I'd turn the tap off and go back to whatever I was doing...even if that was sleeping. So..in this scenario, I am the tool he used to turn the water tap on. And another kind of tool as well, I think.
The fact that tools can outlive their makers & users by MILLIONS of years is just mind-boggling... 👀 (Will some of our plastic trash still be lurking a million years from now?? Yikes...) Super-fascinating video, thank you Stefan & the site team! Really glad to see the local African experts getting credit too, shows significant progress in how this field of science has operated, even just over my lifetime...
Stefan I LOVE your channel. One of my favorite subjects, about which to read or watch, is primates and other animals using tools & problem solving skills. Watching apes fishing for insects in a fallen tree, crows cracking oysters by dropping them from great heights, and an octopus fidgeting with a jar until the lid is off…all of these situations are absolute marvels. This discovery of ancient peoples making & using tools is even more thrilling! Thanks again for bringing this to us.
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HI 😃
Stefan wonderfull story could you please cover "Multiregionalism in Africa" and incredible genetic diversity on this continent?
It's totally ignored!
❤ In May 2023 Genetics did disproven finally idea that our specie was born in any single región of Africa in particular!
Could You cover San people, Pygmies and MHC on chromosome 6 diversity in particular?
hey stefan, thoughts on the recent paper about anthropophagy at Koobi Fora (probably Homo preying on possibly Paranthropus?) in re the Paranthropus molar found in association with butchered animals? paleo anthro student and mega Kenyanthropus fanboy myself so i’m unsure if i’ve pigeonholed myself into K. platyops as the Lomekwi toolmakers, as opposed to Australopithecus or Paranthropus. would love to know more! well good as always. :)
Omg Stefan you gotta put that beautiful artwork of an elderly and toddler hominin gazing at a stone tool as the Thumbnail! Its an absolutely beautiful drawing!!
@@peterdore2572 Agree we are "juvenile Apes" as homo... meaning shape of skull
Dear Stefan, your channel is easily the best on the topic of prehistoric Archaeology for how simply you put even the most complex topics, making easy to understand them even to non-expert people. I am a medieval archaeologist and I really appreciate you and what you do. Cheers from Italy!
I think his real gift is the fact that he isn't a trained expert. He brings the wonder and at least some of the ignorance that we all have on these topics and is able to get amazing and understandable explanations from the real experts.
Awesome
Yeah I agree, Thanks from New Zealand Stefan!
Completely agree! Three cheers for Stefan!
Pretty sure I agree with this
I love how you often interview people who are experts on the topic or site you are discussing. It's great to see passionate scientists get a platform to talk about their excellent work.
Anyone who has knapped stone tools knows the kinds of skills needed to get workable lithics. They also know the dangers involved in making stone tools. If you're not careful, you can give yourself some really bad wounds. I'd love to see what they were using as knapping tools. It can be difficult finding really good hammer stones. Choose poorly and you get a shattering stone in your dominant hand. These hominids were skilled and experienced. Thanks for bringing this at our attention Stefan.
I read "Clan of the Cave Bear" by Jean Auel when I was 9. I then proceeded to get half the neighbourhood playing Neanderthal along with me. I can't tell you the hours I spent banging on rocks, trying to weave grass into baskets, or make a sling. Keep in mind this was in the early 80's so no internet. I can say definitively that random rock bashing will _not_ create a hand ax and has a high likelihood of resulting in a smooshed digit.
I've got calluses on my hands that steel blades can't cut. I'm pretty sure these guys had rougher hands than me lol.
@@leggonarm9835 That is fine for the cuts but not for blunt force trauma like hitting your thumb with a hammer.
@@CorwinFound Cor, that is one hell of a book to tackle at 9! What did your young self make of the more ‘adult’ elements of the story, I wonder? I was shocked by the rape and sexual assault at 12! If my parents had known they would have discouraged my reading it. Thank god they were too busy to monitor my reading that closely. It’s still one of the best books I have ever read.
@@brooklyna007 Neanderthals have tons of broken (& healed) bones, especially in the hands. These were tough bastards for sure.
I can say with confidence videos like this have changed the direction of my life. Your videos, in particular those on le principe, lucy and cave art, sent me on a frenzy of exploring anthropology. I applied to study Human Sciences at Oxford university last year (your videos featured in my personal statement) and hopefully (results day permitting) I will be begin my study there this October. I one day aspire to be putting out research and imagine myself in the place of those you interview. I appreciate you and the work you do making these topics accessible. :)
Update: I got the grades to go and will leave this weekend :)
Wow Kiara, I think I speak for all people in wishing you the best of luck with your future endeavors! You have taken the catch phrase “Follow your PASSION” to a whole new level and hopefully that passion will take you places that go well beyond your current imagination! Best wishes -
Wow what an honour, reading this made my day. Good luck to you!
@@StefanMilo I assure you, reading this made mine :)
Good luck ....I look forward to seeing you chat with Stefan
Good for you! The more scientists in the world the better :)
Brilliant episode, Stefan. I used skip school and bunk in to the London zoo just to watch the chimpanzees especially the young ones in the nursery. The nursery had a huge glass window this was around 1968. There was a moment when one young chimpanzee put it's hands flat on the glass facing me I could see the fingerprints of the young chimp it was a revelationary moment for me from that point on I was a confirmed evolutionists. I was ten years old.
Yours is the timeless story 🐈⬛🙏
what a beautiful story, thank you for sharing.
I am the same age as you and you speak my mind right here. ❤
Back in the early 90s my mom rented 2 chimps for my kindergarten birthday party, I have pics of them jumping on the trampoline with my friends lol I highly doubt that's allowed anymore but it was a better time lol
When my wife and I had our son, I looked forward to watching his development. It wasn’t the primitive grasping reflex, Moro reflex, or the other things he displayed when an infant that showed me how closely we are related to primates. Now that he is 8 and running around the house, bouncing on the furniture like a chimpanzee, leaping from couch to couch like a spider monkey, screeching like a howler monkey… now, now I am CONVINCED - in a visceral way.
Stefan's channel is such a relief from the never ending stress that life has become. I love his approach too. His positivity and light hearted humor are exactly what I need right now! ❤❤❤
And to think it started with a plastic spoon. 😉
@@csandlund1 🥄
Nets and cordage were almost certainly older than pebble choppers. Gorillas weave straw, orangs make hammocks out of vines. If two relatives that split off millions of years ago make cordage, then it is very unlikely that our ancestors did not make cordage. The basket, nets, etc. likely predate any shaped stones.
Still, we have no way of knowing, since cordage was probably made of leaves, vines, or other grasses. What I’m trying to say, is even if they did (they probably did) weave baskets/cordage, they wouldn’t survive as long as the rock tools because of decomposition and stuff.
Maybe one day we’ll be fortunate enough to find a trace fossil or somehow ice preserved example of early cordage, id love for it to be me to discover it 😂
The way the comment gets cut off in the preview I thought you were going to say that orangutans make hats.
I really want that to be true
I knew cordage and fibercraft was ridiculously old, but it never occurred to me that other great apes also use forms of fibercraft. That re-writes my brain a little bit! It's of course very possible that using plants to make stuff developed separately multiple times in our evolutionary branches - we probably won't ever know for sure - but just the fact that they do it does seem to imply that it's a process that could date back to at least the earliest members of Homo. Twisting and weaving flexible stuff into patterns is kind of a natural instinct for us, I think; it's not impossible to imagine that we were doing it before we were making stones into sharper stones.
Well We would need to see some form of evidence to truly know.
Can I just say, I really, really appreciate the subtitles you write for all your videos! They're really descriptive and humorous at times, and obviously them being hand written in the first place makes them very high quality. I'm not deaf, but I find it difficult to process multiple senses at the same time, so I always use subtitles to help me :)
equally valuable if you live where people are sleeping and/or making deafening noise while you try to watch a video
idk how you dont have at least a million subs by now, your content is impeccable, i love that you actually interview people instead of just citing their papers
I've been saying this for a long time now, i don't get why yt's algorythm doesn't support this awsome content.
I feel like there's zero correlation between popularity and quality of content on RUclips.
@@PapricePagreed this definitely more worth than watching mrbeast throwing a train in hole.
It's because the content is quality
The majority of people aren't that interested in this topic clearly
Its incredible the tools were made right there at Lemekwi. That means that as youre digging out these stones youre sitting quite possibility in the same spot an early human sat in 3.3 million years ago. It amazes me to think about how unnew our world is
Definitely not human
Wow, this was so good! I had never heard Lomekwi. Fascinating. Evan Patrick Wilson's hirsute magnificence also shines brightly and inspires me almost as much as this certified banger of a video.
When two heroes meet.
Wow thanks for watching! I don’t think you need any inspiration in the beard front though
I'm with you on the admiration of Wilson's absolutely gorgeous hair & beard! Holy heck, I was unironically drooling over his not-a-hair-out-of-place perfection. I consider myself acutely jealous. My apologies to Mr. Wilson, I don't normally mentally pounce on people like that, but his appearance is a work of art. All I have is a shadow of a beard in comparison. I've all but given up on the hair. 🤣 BTW, OP, your username is hilarious. Love it!
I did not expect to come across a MedLifeCrisis comment on this channel. It’s like seeing two of my favorite celebs meeting 😅
I love the Stefan includes other experts and interviews. These are some of the most well done history videos on RUclips. Hands down.
The quality of this video blows me away, I’m studying computer science and anthropology at Boston University and your channel was one of my inspirations to study human origins.
I gained my archaeology degree in 2003 at UOA. I was fantastically lucky to have three mentors to encourage and support me. I love your insight, masterful oration and passion! Nice one bro, respect. 👍🏽
@@privateprivate5928 Remuneration? I gained a student debt debt I didn't pay off until I was in my 40's. I have a post-graduate degree in archaeology. I have never gained a mountain summit. What is your point?
Just mind blowing and full of wonder!
Thanks Evan, Nicholas and Milo
I really enjoy how in your videos you're not pushing an opinion, but more so having a discussion about the facts. Thank you.
This is very well-edited. Thank you. So often these types of videos are just an unedited talk. Thank you for organizing it.
My new favorite video. Awesome in every way 🤙
I found this channel only a couple weeks ago but I’ve fallen completely in love ❤ absolutely amazing work!
He also wrote an illustrated book that is worth its weight in gold. Outstanding work!
I'm jealous. To discover this gem of a channel for the first time again would be a great feeling
Stefan, your content is so engaging it needs to be seen by the masses. Is so entertaining. You explain everything so everyone can understand what you are talking about! I watch so many prehistory channels and they use the technical terms without explaining what they mean. You need to have your own Netflix special, series, channel. I need your stories every week if possible. Love your work. Please keep up the context.
55555
Going into second year at Uni for Archaeology and your keeping my passion alive over the summer holidays!! Great work!!
In short, and ideal for brief Michealmass consideration:
Our supposititious trajectory currently imposed as fact on the available data (aka what we like to call 'evolution') is ... misleading. And that not only in terms of scholarly categorisation (how we choose to label stuff) but also in relation to the innate animal (ensouled e.g. psychologically endowed) capacity of some beings - to do 'things'. Did making tools, therefore, re-make 'us' as us (advanced Lamarckian style trajectory-wise) or did 'we' just make tools better than others because we were changing into 'us' (simplistic Darwinian type trajectory-wise), or something (as yet not associated with a 'name'; e.g. Milo-ian) that is rather less trajectorily-modified 'evolving' in nature but a rather more diffusely-developmentalised change, i.e. rolling ad hoc (humming a tune) rather than flowing metrically (dancing to a strict-tempo beat)*?
;o)
* Or, if you prefer, an ordinary googly rather than a carrom-bah-cha-cha ball. Howzat! And so another (dampish) British cricketing summer flew by.
As interesting as archaeology is, I strongly recommend you study geology first because there’s very little work in archaeology and what there is lays very little
Just fascinating - thank you for sharing this and for letting us lay people listen in on your discussion.
Such a great channel. I am enjoying it a lot. I like how enthusiastic you are about these issues. It is quite contagious.
Absolutely fascinating! I didn't want it to end. Thanks chaps! A beautiful, thought provoking video full of wonder and I could feel them at the brink of the cascade of technology that surrounds us.
Your production quality, editing, voice narration and story telling is spectacular. National geographic level or even better. Kudos!
Love your stuff! So patient and insightful... I do miss the spoon.
The spoon…
@@BDS-ACAB Me, too! 😄
was looking for this comment. yes! i miss it too 😢
The poor spoon, what has become of it.
@@camillastacey4674 there has been many spoons 🥄
The piece that was knapped with the shell on the face made me cry. It might have been just how the rock broke or whatever, but I'm a romantic and I like to think the maker thought it was pretty or special and carefully tried to make the tool around the shell. And they were happy when it worked out. Paleoanthropology, man. What a trip.
Stephan, that was wonderful. Thank you for bringing human prehistory alive for Everyman.
Excellent video. You have a great sense of humour too.
Ooh. I look forward to watching this later when the kids have gone to bed. Yes my life is that exciting. Keep pumping out these bangers, Stefan.
What's not exciting about that?
When I was a little girl I asked my father, a scientist and artist, how arrowheads were made. We were sitting in the car waiting for my mother; he whipped out his ever present drawing pad and showed me how, illustrating as he talked. I tried to make one myself. He told me I had the right idea but the wrong materials, lol. In the 1950s he also told me I could do anything a man could do, much to my mother’s horror. Both my parents loved history and the house was full of books. My favorite book was one on evolution…much changed since then, but a good introduction during a time when it was still illegal to teach it in some states. Thanks to that lesson, I’d never question the idea that folks were making and using tools well before modern humans emerged. I find it touching that a tool was found in a Neanderthal burial…tools were labor intensive to find/make and of great value. It makes me wonder if this person excelled at what he made so was buried with the tool. Where would our early ancestors be without the ability to look at a large rock, wonder if it would be useful, remember where they could find similar rocks and, biggest wonder of all determine that rock could be used to make something also useful? This is why I stopped using the word ‘’primitive” decades ago. Where would we, even as scientists, be without wonder? This video was a delight for this old lady to watch.
Your father seems like an amazing man. Thank you for sharing that story. My mother was an anthropologist and having books everywhere was also my childhood. Even the Arrowhead thing was almost exactly what I did as a kid haha! There's just something about our ancestors that still lives within us I think, that's why we're driven to do things like that as kids and to have the curiosity we exhibit as adults. I believe evolution goes hand in hand with our curiosity as well as our survival.
Idk if you know what an "adle adle" is but I did end up successfully making one haha. Never an arrowhead though but there's still time!
This isn't a place for diary entries ffs
@@Vicus_of_Utrecht Really? Where is that rule written?
@@Vicus_of_Utrechtsound like you jealous you didn't have as wonderful childhood as this old lady.😂
You were fortunate to have had such a father. Most of us did not. I am very happy for you.
I think we should start seeing this as an extremely slow process. Then it wouldn't be so surprising what those 'people' came up with. I mean, if pets can figure out that some things work better then others it's not so hard to imagine a creature figuring out that a strangely shaped stone they found by accident works better then a normal one. Then a bit later they start noticing stones falling from mountains have different shapes or even throwing away a stone after using it, falling on another stone creates one with a different shape. There will always be smarter individuals picking up these details and try to do something with that information.
I think that ignores the co-occurring genetic evolution that is happening with the cultural evolution. What makes things interesting is that we can't really teach chimps these complicated processes nowadays. So the question is when did the *capability* to do that come about. Obviously it was driven by a cultural evolution that made their subsistence strategy such that the best tool makers had the most kids. But eventually it led to a novel capability that could be more generally applied.
Stefan, I believe I speak for all your long-time viewers when I say: We miss your microphone spoooooon. You are the best, down to Earth, speak using common sense, non-arrogant language. Magical. Best archaeological teacher I've ever known. Thanks, buddy. You're making a big difference to young and old.
Great video mate. I always stop what I'm doing and watch whenever you drop something new. It's a sobering thought to think that our ancient relatives even if they aren't in the genus homo all were making and using tools at the same time and similar places, while all walking around upright. It's scary how relatable those thought processes are they must have had in order to make those tools.
Omg i look forward to watching your Olmec project. Make sure to please cover all the mystery and lore behind where they come from. It’s still a mystery till this day
Absolutely fascinating! Thanks for sharing, sir.
Just got done with your most recent video, and despite it being 4 a.m. i couldn’t resist this topic. You’re such a special creator and you ask the right questions at the right times, so happy i found your channel.
5:00 you could say (much like world leaders and bureaucrats) it’s tools all the way down?
11:58 oh, tell me about it! Good Rock is so hard to find nowadays with all the electronically produced music flooding the market!
(I clearly minored in Dad Jokes)
Stunning information, thanks so much Stephan.
This was amazing. You have my favorite prehistory channel out there. I love your work and always look forward to your next video!
Keep going man! Love this channel since day one!
Quality has dramatically increased as well!
Thanks for that wonderful podcast.I admire the Leakey family and am passionately interested in evolution.
Congratulations on making such a professional, authoritative and beguiling video. I taught this material for decades to Y13 students in New Zealand and I wish your video had been available then. Interesting to see K. platyops being brought back into he picture too. Having the field workers actively taking part in the video added to the authenticity and interest They were both articulate and interesting speakers and i will be doing a quick search now to find out more info on them.
One question: who is the author of the lovely art work on Hominins that featured every so often?
I wish i could sit around a campfire with a bunch of friends and talk with you Stefan, listen to your stories. Im riveted, glued, to every word. Visceral you are. You got a great voice for naration. Not to fast not too slow. Soothing even. And your love for the subject just spills over on everybody. The visuals and art are well done especially for a guy in the back room. Please just carry on...im right there with you hanging on every word. I might just get some skulls...they are mesmerizing. Thank you Stefan...!
I’ve been reading an older book, called “The Axemaker’s gift”, by two authors, Burke and Ornstein. It suggests that the increase in our intellectual capacity to reason and create, began with making stone tools, such as hand axes. The steps from early hominids to our species, are explained, I am finding it a fascinating read. Very much enjoy your videos, Stefan, this one really resonated since I’ve been reading this book! It also suggests language originated, as the tool makers would need to show and explain to apprentices, how to make them.
The thing that most separates us from other primates really seems to be speech. As much as Chomsky irritates me with is attacks on social science I tend to agree with that conclusion. Cooking our food and telling stories around the campfire really feel crucial to our development to me.
I love the idea that technology shaped our evolution, not always the other way around. Cooking food is a great example. The first times were accidents assuredly, but something in the very early human brain realized the benefit and started doing it on purpose. But then the cooked food allowed for a decrease in jaw size, allowing the cranium to expand without having to have huge connections for jaw muscles, which lead to a bigger brain, and more technology that would continue to impact our evolution. It's a truly wonderful feedback loop. Evolution leads to technology that impacts evolution etc etc.
Something I appreciate about your channel more than I can express is that you take the time to make accurate subtitles.
Auto-generated subtitles very often mid-transcribe non-American accents, and also very often mis-transcribe scientific terms. It’s incredibly frustrating and a disservice to people who rely on subtitles or transcriptions to watch videos, and the care you take matters a great deal. Thank you
Pretty cool that they got Gilgamesh to talk about early hominid tools
👍
Great video. Thanks!
What an amazing video! Absolutely eye opening and comparing the monkey's use of tools, both similarities and differences was brilliant. It's too bad the video ended on a such a sad note - the discoveries we will probably never make. We'll never know who first used a spear or made a basket to carry goods. Those are technologies just as critical as a hand ax but we can't ever explore those and what they mean about how our brains evolved because they can't be found.
To me it’s obvious they were made from the beginning. Why would humans who have an ego, assume they were stupid? It’s like saying cats are stupid but refuse to drink sitting water in the wild. We were born with instincts. This is the most basic form of instinct. You don’t need critical thinking skills to make something to hold things. Or notice seeds grow. You see it grow. It’s ridiculous.
Is there a way that I can watch the talk you three had? While the video you made is good, I really want to nerd out on all the little details in the conversation that were cut out to make it more understandable/palatable to a wider audience. Thanks! You earned a sub today.
As you were coming to the end of the conversation, and speculating about how our ancestors settled on the "phonolite" rock to use, my mind wondered to a bored youth, some million years ago. As they're hanging out at the familycamp, they start absentmindedly picking up rocks and banging them against other rocks, keeping the one that doesn't break. When an adult comes over to make them stop making loud sounds, they notice that some rocks have sharp edges. "Hey! That sharp edge looks nice. I wonder if that would cut animal hide?" ... And a tradition began.
My last phrase was originally going to be... "... And the first patent was issued" LOL
I told North 02 (in his comments as I don’t know him) that you guys need to be friends. You two are my favorite. Very different documentary styles yet both the best and both with a lot of heart. Thanks for teaching me all kinds of amazing things
I’m a single woman living alone with my pet cat and snake, we watch your incredible videos together every night in bed cuddled up ☺️
Snake too?😮
If your pet cat is like a leopard and you have a snake, just post that info on your front door.
You will be perfectly safe.
@@bob456fk6 oh I have! I have a beware of the snake sticker on my front door! Even the couriers step back before giving my parcel! 🤣
wow that's crazy. I happened to click on your page which is something I never do and the video you have of London overlooks my flats... :O
I'm so happy that you are a single woman with a cat and snake. Freud would have understood the symbolism but like me he would have been left wondering about relevance to this video topic.
Something which occurs to me (a retired geologist) is that the craftsmen have recognised certain rocks which can be knapped into tools, which cannot be done with any rock casually found. I would like to find the source outcrop of this kind of rock which they used. Would this yield more knapped tools? It would certainly show how far people would take the cobbles which they have found, and possibly barter them for other desired things. Rocks were carried for large distances across Australia for the purpose of trade. The native Australians were, until fairly recently a Stone Age culture, which seems to me disregarded by the archaeological community.
You are correct. As a flint knapper for many years....the first skill is to be able to identify knappable stone. That said, some of the artifacts shown appeared to be of extremely poor quality stone. Possibly that was the only stone available. The one "head sized" stone, with the multiple small flakes along one edge may show an inexperienced knapper. Without going into detail, and experienced knapper wouldn't make that mistake. Possibly this may point to the beginnings of the development of knapping skills.
These ancient tools are in better condition than mine ! Wonderful video .
I've learned so much from your channel. It's become one of my favorites. I was homeschooled for many years growing up, and I was never taught evolution or anything factual about the history of the Earth. Luckily I get to learn now and it's incredibly fascinating. I'm going back to school in 3 months as a neuroscience major and your channel, along with a few others, has inspired me to take a few anthropology classes along the way. Really looking forward to it! Thank you!!!
Creating stone tool, and stone knapping in general is a fascinating process, it's definitely on an other level than a chimp using a branch to get ants or a rock to crack nuts. You kind of need to understand the crystalline structure of the rock itself to get some results, you also need a lot of dexterity and practice and a cultural background, or at least someone to teach you. This is a brilliant video!
I read before that knapping is so difficult it probably required verbal communication to transfer the knowledge to another person, or hominid.
Stefan is the most underrated anthropologist RUclipsr on RUclips! Keep up the great work, we all really enjoy watching!
Stefan Milo upload, today is a good day
Fantastic video!
As a Geoarchaeologist, I appreciate your caution in interpreting the stones as tools. From the photos, they look like tools to me. But there are so many unsubstantiated assertions on the web that people will believe anything.
The Oldawan and Acheulean tools I have examined are all fine-grained quartzite. Is this material available at your sites?
Fascinating work y'all are doing. Thanks.
Excellent video! Reminds me of my dad in a lot of ways. My dad was a brick layer, he spent most of his life doing custom jobs and made a mark in our town for his eccentric touch to his brick laying. What made him unique was his ability to cut the bricks. He’d chop them up by scoring with a blade and hacking at them with his trowel. He’d make all these shapes and then mortar it together in beautiful patterns. I imagine early man doing the same exact thing with the tools and stones available. The angles, square pressure, natural direction of the stone, and the use of fire. The effect river water has on stone. No way early man didn’t see all that and put it together.
The fact That you interviewed Jesus himself to make this video adds to your amazing commitment
I thought he looked like Rasputin 😅
Very cool Stefan. I love your stuff, your totally infectious enthusiasm. More please.
That was such an awesome video , the time factors are just so great , hard to imagine. Love it . Cheers Stefan
Boy am I glad I discovered you, I have been listening to The Prehistory Guys for a couple of years and was yearning for more. Your material is fantastic, I couldn’t hit the subscribe button fast enough.
I'm kind of disappointed that you didn't use one of the stone tools for the unboxing ;)
Another fantastic upload! Great work by you and by the guests!
THANK YOU ALL!
These findings really make me think that stone tool use was something a proto-homonid species was doing and that it proliferated down amongst all the species of Homo, it also makes the discovery and use of fire seem much more natural because smacking two rocks together is bound to make sparks causing small fires and triggering a curious apes curiosity. The timeline for the evolutionary changes brought along through the use of fire also lines up with these 3+ million year old tools. Very interesting stuff.
You’re producing video so well!! Amazing content
Awesome video. You're getting better with each production. I particularly like these in which you talk with the people doing the research, ask questions and translate for us. Thank you.
The key point for me was the comment that the materials can't just be smashed at random, hoping you'll find something useful in the shards. The energy budget of gathering and working those materials requires a better success rate. This epitomizes the higher level thinking involved. The process that involves the questions about; is this useful, how can I improve this, what can I do now, what can I do better next time.
Video/interview ideas: is the Kelp Highway guy still at Oregon State? Is there an expert on subduction zone geology who might now of uplifted areas that may have preseved ice age sites from rising sea levels. (When I think of this I imagine that someone else has considered it and done the research.)
Thanks for your Videos! Going on holidays with my parents always meant going from museums to temples to ruins to caves to megaliths all day. So I was quite preexposed to archaeology and already had an interest. But your videos sparked my interest anew and made me switch my subject at university to prehistoric archaeology last year, and now I start to know all the sites you are taliking about in your videos. Keep up the good work!
I didn't think Paranthropus went back as dar as 2.6 to 3 million years old. It's not the first time their remains have been found with Olduwan tools either. I can't imagine Habilis being able to take down a Paranthropus.
This is fascinating, thank you.
You bring up an interesting thing to consider. Were some (or all) of the tools that were made at Lowmekwi 3 used for protection/weapons against competitors or predators, as opposed to only processing animals or plants for food? It is likely that life was pretty dangerous for a smallish primate at that time in that place...lots of carnivores, and possibly even larger primates that could be dangerous and were to be avoided.
Hi, Stefan! I attended a field school in July/Aug 2010 with the Univ. Of Colorado Denver at Laetoli, Tanzania. Near the end of our excavation, my 2m x 2m unit produced two incisors that got a cursory evaluation as from Homo habilis. Also in that same unit was a stone I thought fit the Olduwan technology, or what little I knew about it. Both the professor who hosted the field school and a well known UK scientist in attendance (she helped me excavate my unit that day) said it was just a stone, nothing to see here. But I still think it was a tool. Your video shows me I may be correct. I have three photos of the rock, but none of the incisors. The stone is the original, rounded shape on one side and flakes "removed" on the other. Again, it does not seem plausible that falling or tumbling would have created that teardrop shape, since the dimensions are only about 9 cm long and 6 cm wide.
One thing to remember is the cobble is the source of flakes, which are probably more useful as a tool than the edged cobble on an Olduwan tool.
From one Stefan to another: keep up your great work, it’s not only educating us viewers, but it’s so much positivity, fascination, enjoyment that you are spreading. Your family will be truly happy and thankful for having you around the way that you are, even when sitting in your cave at 5:30 in the morning nerding on about rocks. ❤
I would bet that hand axe with the fossil in the center was a prized possession.
Another banger video.
Just one question though, at 0:33, what is jollogy?
Thank you Stefan for making such interesting and quality content
Hey I just found this channel and I am huge on world history in general, specifically ancient history of humans that we all learned about in our youth , hopefully(Mesopotamia, Sumer, The Sea People, Bronze Age collapse , Inca, Han in ancient China etc ) so I really don’t know all too much about how this field of research exactly is able to see the rocks at image 9:30 and know that they are indeed tools made by our ancestors?
I don’t doubt it at all I am just extremely interested in this suddenly. It’s like crime scene detectives but only having your imagination and intuition to truly rely on. But I am new to this , it’s just amazing to think the amount of times any of us have might have just been feet above or next to one of these tools made thousands and thousands , potentially millions, of years ago. Inspiring really . Thank you
A really fascinating presentation. To me the key point you made, is that these tools weren't just accidentally made, there was considerable purpose and experience in their making. A long prior history, and cultural memory, leading up to these tools being created. The design, the forethought., goes well beyond any tools made by non-human animals now. Also, the thought processes, show that they were almost certainly making tools out of material that wouldn't last, such sticks, thorns, bar, plant fibre, and much more. I think the earliest tool use, would have been the stick age. As, sticks are the most numerous and versatile tools used by modern hunter-gatherers. A stick, totally transforms the abilities of those who wields it in a skilful way. That fossil shell in the middle of that hand axe, and I believe there older examples, must be early examples of art.
The background music during the episode was perfect for evoking an emotional response. That of awe. I totally could see that you were in awe of these early ancestors of humans making tools, and the transition to more elaborate tool making with later ancestors. Your passion for material like this really shines through and it totally makes sense that you have attracted an audience. I’m speaking as a musician and one who appreciates the making of music to elicit responses from an audience. Soundtrack music comes to mind, and how important it is in watching a movie, for example, and it’s role in helping the audience feel something. Anyways, I just wanted to let you know I appreciate that you’ve added that extra layer to YOUR storytelling. It’s very much appreciated. As always, I really enjoy your material and keep coming back for more. Thanks for being you, and putting it out to the world for all to see.
This is one of many Stefan Milo videos, when I get frustrated that RUclips does not have a multiple likes button. So often during Stefan's videos, I find myself grabbing my remote, only to realize I have already liked the video. Come on RUclips you can do better!
thanks for all your hard research and expert delivery of information!
@24:40 Missed opportunity to use your million year old Acheulean tool to open the box for your 3 million year old Kenyanthropus Platyops skull*.
*Model of skull
Thanks!
And if the Stone Age is being pushed that far back, can you imagine what that does to the Wood Age- the sticks and spears clubs that they improved upon with stone. 😅
“Walking over to the place where they have chosen make tools for whatever reason”
Anyone who has ever stepped on a sharp rock: 👀
Absolutely fascinating and I especially love your little phylosophical moments that really make this story so resonant. Beautiful work my man. Thank you so much for making this. Really moved me
Stefan coming in hot with yet another archaeological banger. This man has to be stopped folks.
Another excellent and exciting video! I never miss an episode because you never disappoint us. Some videos I watch several times. I didn't get to study this stuff in school and I'm wicked old so I rely on some of the great content creators on RUclips. You are one of the greats!
Oldest tool found, almost certainly not the oldest ever made.
Stefan: I'm very grateful to you for your wonderful insights into past life. A few years ago, I developed a lecture on ancient horses and gained a parallel wealth of insight into their history. Thank you, George Gough
You just need a phrenologist to examine those skull and tell you what they were doing. (Kidding, guys. KIDDING!)
This is mind blowing. Thank you for helping me see and understand the significance of it!
Course it turns out that the more that humans look carefully, the more they find that there are quite a number of other fellow creatures who use tools.
Honey Badgers do, corvids, and...even some fish have been seen using tools.
And while I might not fit the general definition of a "tool", a couple of years ago my daughter asked me why I suddenly got out of bed, walked to the bathroom and turned on the bath taps. I suddenly realized that my CAT, my bleeding CAT, had trained ME to respond this way every time HE rang a bell.
I don't even know how he did it.
There was a little bell hanging off a nail on a door frame. And somehow he had managed to train me up so that each time he wanted some nice cool running water, he'd ring the bell with his paw, and without even being aware I was doing it, I'd go turn on the bath taps, then stand there waiting while he had his drink, after which I'd turn the tap off and go back to whatever I was doing...even if that was sleeping.
So..in this scenario, I am the tool he used to turn the water tap on. And another kind of tool as well, I think.
My cat trained me in a similar way. And we think that we are in charge! I finally invested in a cat fountain so that I could get some peace!
@@fleetskipper1810 I keep wondering what else he has me doing.
You are such a chill dude and deliver the information in such a great way. I love your videos!
The fact that tools can outlive their makers & users by MILLIONS of years is just mind-boggling... 👀 (Will some of our plastic trash still be lurking a million years from now?? Yikes...)
Super-fascinating video, thank you Stefan & the site team! Really glad to see the local African experts getting credit too, shows significant progress in how this field of science has operated, even just over my lifetime...
Live?
Stefan I LOVE your channel. One of my favorite subjects, about which to read or watch, is primates and other animals using tools & problem solving skills. Watching apes fishing for insects in a fallen tree, crows cracking oysters by dropping them from great heights, and an octopus fidgeting with a jar until the lid is off…all of these situations are absolute marvels. This discovery of ancient peoples making & using tools is even more thrilling! Thanks again for bringing this to us.
24:40 Disappointed that you didn't use the already on-screen flint cutters to open the box