Monkeys– Not Humans– Made Old Sets of Stone Tools in Brazil, Study Discovers
Scientists think that old rock tools found in Brazil are the work of capuchin monkeys, not early human beings, the art and design website Artnet reported, mentioning an academic article.
“We are confident that the very early archeological websites from Brazil might not be human-derived but might come from capuchin apes,” wrote archaeologist Agustín M. Agnolín and also paleontologist Federico L. Agnolín in an article released in the peer-reviewed science journal The Holocene in November.
The article stated that archeologists discovered what they think to be old rock tools made from locally happening quartz and quartzite cobbles during past excavations at Pedra Furada– a collection of over 800 archeological sites in Piauí in northeastern Brazil.
According to the article, the oldest of the rock tools found seems up to 50,000 years of age, which resulted in some academics theorizing that it offered evidence of early human habitation of the area.
Unforeseen findings from 2016, however, posed a challenge to that theory.
The findings revealed that capuchin monkeys in northeastern Brazil can making and using a big range of rock devices.
This increased the possibility, as was first recommended in 2017, that apes– not humans– could be responsible for generating the Pedra Furada explorations.
As well as according to Agnolín as well as Agnolín, the researchers behind The Holocene post, there is currently a persuading quantity of proof to suggest that the devices weren’t human-made.
“Our review of the evidence recommends that the old sites in Brazil do not actually belong to the first Americans, however, are really the product of the ape activity,” Federico L. Agnolín informed Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET).
The scientists compared the tools found at Pedra Furada to those that capuchin apes make today.
“The outcome was unexpected: There was no distinction between the supposed human devices from 50,000 years back and those produced by monkeys today,” Agustín M. Agnolín informed CONICET.
The researchers looked to past research study and observations of capuchin monkey populaces which reveal that the primates use small rocks as hammers and huge, flatter rocks as anvils to crack open nuts and seed pods.
“The outcome is that the rocks used frequently break, generating rock fragments that are extremely similar to those produced by human beings when carving stone tools,” stated Agustín M. Agnolín, per CONICET’S news release.
In addition to this, the researchers stated in The Holocene article that there wasn’t proof to recommend a trace of human existence, noting the absence of hearths or traces of dietary remains.
“Our research reveals that the devices from Pedra Furada and also other nearby sites in Brazil were nothing more than the product of capuchin apes breaking nuts and rocks some 50,000 years before the present,” Federico L. Agnolín informed CONICET.
Read the original article on SCIENCE ALERT.
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