http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/29637095

Making silent stones speak: human evolution & the dawn of technology

Who were the earliest tool makers? How did they live? What kinds of tools did they make and use? Most important, what role did this early technology play in human evolution? In Making Silent Stones Speak, Nicholas Toth and Kathy Schick literally reconstruct the lives of our primitive tool-making ancestors. Drawing on two decades of field work around the world, they show how early prehistoric sites have been discovered, excavated, studied, and interpreted. They take the reader along with them to the savannahs of East Africa, the plains of northern China, and the mountains of New Guinea - and into the past. Then, in a dramatic recreation of primitive technology, they show how early stone tools were made - and how they can be made and used today, by both modern human beings and chimpanzees. Mixing archaeology and practical experimentation, Making Silent Stones Speak then moves beyond field work into startling new theories about human evolution. Toth and Schick show how technology is probably the most important element in determining the course of human evolution; why changes in human behavior - in diet, social organization, sexuality, and technology - have been as important as changes in biology in shaping evolution; how our primitive ancestors learned to favor their right hand over their left in manufacturing stone tools, thus encouraging the right-brain/left-brain split that is responsible for human intelligence ... and human creativity. A major work by the leading researchers in the field, Making Silent Stones Speak takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the world of our stone-age ancestors.

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