A monkey that has been using stone tools for three thousand years

The use of stone tools by mankind is also seen in ancient relics 2.5 million years ago. However, research on the black-striped capuchin monkey remains suggests that this civilization was in the Stone Age at least 3,000 years ago.

The black-striped capuchin lives in South America. It is known that stone tools are used to eat meals by manipulating fingertips, and to attack, threaten, or court adversaries. For example, to peel a nut shell or something, throw a stone at the fruit to act as a hammer.

The research team of Tiago Falotico, a primate scholar at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, conducted a study from an archaeological perspective on the stone tools used by the black-striped capuchin for meals. Through this, it was found that black stripe capuchin had been using stone tools for meals since 3,000 years ago through relics from the strata.

Hammers that were smaller and more uneven than those handled by the black stripe capuchin 3,000 years ago were excavated, and hammers and stones that were much larger than the modern ones were excavated 600 years ago. This suggests the possibility that black-striped capuchin 3,000 years ago, when eating small berries and using small stone tools, ate larger and harder berries than cashew nuts 600 years ago, and thus changed to handle larger stoneware.

Humans are also believed to have processed food using stone like black stripe capuchin. However, since then, mankind gradually added hands to the stoneware itself in the Stone Age, such as using sharp stone tools like blades. Humans seem to have added hands as their cognitive function and culture change, but the black stripe capuchin is not at that stage.

In addition to chimpanzees, otters and crows are known as stone-handling creatures, but archaeological records of how long these animals handled stones have not yet been found. The research team revealed that if such an animal is defined as the Stone Age as an entity that treats stone as a tool, the Black Striped Capuchin can be said to be in the Stone Age. Related information can be found here .