Ancient Humans Made Millions Of These - We Don’t Know Why @MinuteEarth

MinuteEarth | Ancient Humans Made Millions Of These - We Don’t Know Why @MinuteEarth | Uploaded 1 year ago | Updated 1 day ago
The Acheulean handaxe was the most common tool of early humans, but we still don’t know what the heck they used it for.

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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:
- Acheulean handaxe: large, chipped stone objects which represent the oldest, most common, and longest-used formally-shaped working tool in human history.
- Microscopy: the technical field of using microscopes to view samples & objects that cannot be seen with the unaided eye.
- Microlith: small stone tool usually made of flint or chert and typically a centimeter or so in length and half a centimeter wide.

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Lizah van der Aart | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation
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"Acheulean handaxe" photo by Mary Harrsch
flickr.com/photos/mharrsch/2501309147

"Obsidian Microlith" photo by the Smithsonian
https://www.si.edu/object/obsidian-microlith:nmnhanthropology_8132133

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REFERENCES
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Rodriguez, Alice. (2023). Personal Communication. Department of Anthropology, NYU. https://as.nyu.edu/departments/anthropology/people/graduate-students/doctoral-students/alice-rodriguez.html

Iovita, Radu. (2023). Personal Communication. Department of Anthropology, NYU. https://as.nyu.edu/faculty/radu-iovita.html

Chang, M. (2009). The Case Against Sexual Selection as an Explanation of Handaxe Morphology. Paleoanthropology. paleoanthro.org/static/journal/content/PA20090077.pdf

Welsh, J. (2022). Tools May Have Been First Money. Live Science. livescience.com/18751-hand-axe-tools-money.html

Key, A J. M., Proffitt, T, Stefani, Elena and Lycett, Stephen J. (2016) Looking at handaxes from another angle: Assessing the ergonomic and functional importance of edge form in Acheulean bifaces. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 44 (Part A). pp. 43-55. kar.kent.ac.uk/57215/3/Key%20et%20al.%20Jul_30_2016_Handaxe%20edge%20angles.pdf

Iovita, R., McPherron, S.P., 2011. The handaxe reloaded: A morphometric reassessment of Acheulian and Middle Paleolithic handaxes. Journal of Human Evolution 61, 61–74. Retrieved from: doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.02.007

Iovita, R., Tuvi-Arad, I., Moncel, M.-H., Despriée, J., Voinchet, P., Bahain, J.-J., 2017. High handaxe symmetry at the beginning of the European Acheulian: The data from la Noira (France) in context. PLOS ONE 12, e0177063. Retrieved from: doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0177063

Wayman. J.L. (2010) Foot Cutters: A New Hypothesis for the Function of Acheulian Bifaces and Related Lithics, Lithic Technology, 35:2, 171-194, Retrieved from: tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01977261.2010.11721089

Sorensen, A.C., Claud, E. & Soressi, M. Neandertal fire-making technology inferred from microwear analysis. Sci Rep 8, 10065 (2018). doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-28342-9

Aranda, V. et al. (2012) Experimental Program for the Detection of Use Wear in Quartzite. International Conference on Use-Wear Analysis: Use-Wear 2012.

Iovita, R., Sano, K. (Eds.), 2016. Multidisciplinary approaches to the study of Stone Age weaponry, Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht.

M. Dominguez- Rodrigo, J. Serrallonga, J. Juan-Tresserras, L. Alcala, L. Luque. (2001). Woodworking activities by early humans: a plant residue analysis on Acheulian stone tools from Peninj (Tanzania), Journal of Human Evolution, Volume 40, Issue 4. doi.org/10.1006/jhev.2000.0466

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$How To Hear Halfway Around The World Thanks to CTBTO for sponsoring this video: https://www.ctbto.org Sounds in the ocean can travel more than 10,000 miles - thats halfway around the world! Heres how. LEARN MORE ************** To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Refraction: the bending of a sound wave based on changes in the waves speed SUPPORT MINUTEEARTH ************************** If you like what we do, you can help us!: - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Share this video with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) CREDITS ********* This video was produced by: Kate Yoshida | Script Writer, Narrator and Director Arcadi Garcia Rius | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation Nathaniel Schroeder | Music MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info OUR STAFF ************ Sarah Berman • Arcadi Garcia Rius David Goldenberg • Julián Gustavo Gómez Melissa Hayes • Alex Reich • Henry Reich Peter Reich • Ever Salazar • Kate Yoshida OUR LINKS ************ Youtube | https://youtube.com/MinuteEarth TikTok | https://tiktok.com/@minuteearth Twitter | https://twitter.com/MinuteEarth Instagram | https://instagram.com/minute_earth Facebook | https://facebook.com/Minuteearth Website | https://minuteearth.com Apple Podcasts| https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/minuteearth/id649211176 REFERENCES ************** Heaney, K.D., Kuperman, W.A., and McDonald, B. E. (1960). Perth-Bermuda sound propagation: Adiabatic mode interpretation. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 90, 2586–2594, 1991. https://asa.scitation.org/doi/10.1121/1.402062 Munk, W.H, Spindel, R.C., Baggeroer, A., Birdsall, T. G. (1994). The Heard Island Feasibility Test, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 96, 2330–2342. https://asa.scitation.org/doi/10.1121/1.410105 Payne, R. S., and Webb, D. (1971). Orientation by means of long range acoustic signaling in baleen whales. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 188:110–141. https://www.thecre.com/sefReports/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Payne-R.-Webb-D.-1971.-Orientation.pdf Shockley, R. C., Northrop, J., Hansen, P. G. Hartdegen, C. (1982) SOFAR propagation paths from Australia to Bermuda: Comparision of signal speed algorithms and experiments, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 71, 51–60. https://asa.scitation.org/doi/10.1121/1.387250$

$Screens are NOT the reason kids need glasses 👀 To be able to see things clearly, your eyeballs need to be a certain shape. Today, though, around half of the world’s kids have eyeballs that are too long - and as a result, they have blurry vision. LEARN MORE ************** To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: - Lens: A transparent biconvex structure in the eye that can change its shape to change the focal distance. - Retina: A layer at the back of the eyeball containing cells that are sensitive to light. - Fovea: A small depression in the retina where visual acuity is highest. - Myopia: A common vision condition in which distant objects are blurry. - Hyperopia: A vision condition in which nearer objects are blurry. - Emmetropization: The process by which the eye grows in order to maximize visual acuity. - Dopamine: A neurotransmitter in the retina that tells the eyeball to stop growing once it has gotten to the ideal length. - Near Work Hypothesis: The theory that the modern myopia epidemic was a result of humans spending more time looking at nearby objects. SUPPORT MINUTEEARTH ************************** If you like what we do, you can help us!: - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Share this video with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) CREDITS ********* David Goldenberg | Script Writer, Narrator and Director Sarah Berman | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation Nathaniel Schroeder | Music MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info OUR STAFF ************ Lizah van der Aart • Sarah Berman • Arcadi Garcia i Rius David Goldenberg • Melissa Hayes • Alex Reich Henry Reich • Peter Reich • Ever Salazar Alexander Vidal • Leonardo Souza • Kate Yoshida OUR LINKS ************ Youtube | https://youtube.com/MinuteEarth TikTok | https://tiktok.com/@minuteearth Twitter | https://twitter.com/MinuteEarth Instagram | https://instagram.com/minute_earth Facebook | https://facebook.com/Minuteearth Website | https://minuteearth.com Apple Podcasts| https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/minuteearth/id649211176 REFERENCES ************** Zhou, X., Pardue, M. T., Iuvone, P. M., & Qu, J. (2017). Dopamine signaling and myopia development: What are the key challenges. Progress in retinal and eye research, 61, 60–71. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.preteyeres.2017.06.003 Morgan, I. G., Rose, K. A., Ellwein, L. B., & Refractive Error Study in Children Survey Group (2010). Is emmetropia the natural endpoint for human refractive development? An analysis of population-based data from the refractive error study in children (RESC). Acta ophthalmologica, 88(8), 877–884. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-3768.2009.01800.x Dolgan, E. (2015). The Myopia Boom. Nature. 519: 276-278. Retrieved from: https://www.nature.com/news/polopoly_fs/1.17120!/menu/main/topColumns/topLeftColumn/pdf/519276a.pdf Carr BJ, Stell WK. The Science Behind Myopia. (2017) In: Kolb H, Fernandez E, Nelson R, editors. Webvision: The Organization of the Retina and Visual System [Internet]. Salt Lake City (UT): University of Utah Health Sciences Center; 1995-. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470669/ Brody, J. (2021). Why Nearsightedness is on the Rise in Children. New York Times. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/03/well/live/nearsightedness-myopia-children.html Klaver CCW, Polling JR, Enthoven CA. (2021) 2020 as the Year of Quarantine Myopia. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2021;139(3):300–301. Retrieved from: doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2020.6231$