Study: 2.75M-Year-Old Stone Tools Found in Kenya May Rewrite History
The Spin
Narrative A
Stone tools weren't just passive products of bigger brains — they actively drove human cognitive evolution. These hierarchical technologies served as external scaffolds that pushed our ancestors' mental limits, creating feedback loops between the complexity of toolmaking and brain development. The co-evolution of mind and material culture fundamentally shaped who we became as a species.
Narrative B
The 2.75-million-year-old Kenyan tools show that early hominins already mastered sophisticated stoneworking long before major brain expansion. These remarkably consistent technologies persisted unchanged for 300,000 years through massive environmental upheavals, showing tools reflected existing cognitive abilities rather than driving brain evolution.
Metaculus Prediction
Articles on this story
© 2025 Improve the News Foundation.
All rights reserved.
Version 6.17.2