Bones, Stones, and Genes: The Origin of Modern Humans

Lecture 3 – Stone Tools and the Evolution of Human Behavior

by John J. Shea, PhD
  1.  1.  Start of Lecture 3
  2.  2.  Profile of Dr. John Shea
  3.  3.  The science of archaeology and the importance of context
  4.  4.  Archaeology is the science of human residues
  5.  5.  Stratigraphic principles of superposition and association
  6.  6.  Demo: Stratigraphic Principles
  7.  7.  Principles of radiocarbon dating
  8.  8.  Principles of radiopotassium dating
  9.  9.  Uniformitarianism: The present as a guide to the past
  10. 10.  Archaeological fieldwork at Omo Kibish site, Ethiopia
  11. 11.  Introduction to stone tools
  12. 12.  Video: Making Stone Tools by Flintknapping
  13. 13.  Modern flintknapping experiments inform us about the past
  14. 14.  Q&A: Are there any trends in the evolution of stone tools?
  15. 15.  Q&A: What has been your most exciting discovery?
  16. 16.  Narrative and comparative approaches to studying prehistory
  17. 17.  Demo: Classifying Stone Tools
  18. 18.  Archaeological evidence of complex human behavior
  19. 19.  Snapshot of human prehistory: 5,000 years ago
  20. 20.  Snapshot of human prehistory: 30,000 years ago
  21. 21.  Snapshot of hominin prehistory: 500,000 years ago
  22. 22.  Snapshot of hominin prehistory: 2 million years ago
  23. 23.  Comparing human behavior in the snapshots of prehistory
  24. 24.  Origin of distinctively hominin behavior
  25. 25.  Video: Comparing Human and Chimpanzee Tool Use
  26. 26.  Factors influencing the emergence of hominin stone tool use
  27. 27.  The archaeological records of humans and early hominins
  28. 28.  Hypotheses for the evolution of human behavioral complexity
  29. 29.  Testing hypotheses on how human behavioral complexity evolved
  30. 30.  Conclusion and message to potential archaeologists
  31. 31.  Q&A: Is the type of stone tool associated with complexity of people?
  32. 32.  Q&A: What is the evidence for controlled use of fire?
  33. 33.  Q&A: What caused early hominins to trend toward carnivory?
  34. 34.  Q&A: Why did humans begin to cook meat?


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