The First Toolmakers
The Ancients
History Hit
4.7 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 20 April 2023
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Invention and innovation are two concepts that have propelled humankind forward for as long as people can remember - but who were the first, original tool makers, and what can we learn from them? Travelling back nearly 3 million years ago to the African continent, in modern Kenya, recent archaeological discoveries have altered long standing opinions about who the first tool makers were - so which hominin species deserves the title 'the first toolmakers', and just how related to them are we?
In this episode Tristan welcomes the Professor Fred Spoor back to the podcast to help answer some of these questions. Together they look at some of these recent archaeological discoveries and how they change our understanding of human history. Examining, and questioning, some long-held assumptions about our distant ancestors, they journey through the mid-pliocene to help piece together this murky moment of history.
The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie
The Assistant Producer was Annie Coloe
Mixed & edited by Aidan Lonergan
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's the ancients on History Hit. |
| 0:12.5 | I'm Tristan Hughes, your host. |
| 0:14.9 | And in today's episode where we're going back deep, deep into human prehistory, we're |
| 0:20.0 | going back more than 3 million years to Africa. |
| 0:24.9 | To talk about the first physical evidence that we currently have for tools. |
| 0:30.8 | And who? |
| 0:32.1 | What species of human, of hominin, we believe was creating these tools more than 3 million |
| 0:40.5 | years ago? |
| 0:42.3 | The site in question is situated next to Lake Takana in Kenya, a site called Lemekui. |
| 0:50.1 | And the species that's associated with this site, first and foremost, dating to this |
| 0:54.1 | time, is one called Kenyantropus platyons. |
| 0:58.4 | This is a fascinating topic, and so to learn more about it, I headed back to the Natural |
| 1:02.8 | History Museum a few days ago to interview the one and only Professor Fred Spor. |
| 1:08.8 | That name may well ring a bell, because Fred was recently on the podcast talking about |
| 1:13.5 | early homo, the origins of the homogenous with species such as homohebulus and homo-rude |
| 1:19.9 | officers. |
| 1:20.9 | And now he's back, we're going to the mid-plyocene more than 3 million years to talk all about |
| 1:26.3 | the first tool makers. |
| 1:28.6 | You will find this absolutely fascinating, so without further ado, he is Fred. |
| 1:37.0 | Fred always a pleasure having you on the podcast. |
| 1:38.9 | He has good to be back. |
| 1:40.5 | Now, this time we're talking about a fascinating one. |
... |
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