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The people of Clovis were at the forefront. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Technology changed slowly for the first million years of human evolution. Three million years ago, our ancestors were making crude choppers. Two million years ago, axes. A million years ago, primitive humans were able to use fire. As spearpoints, firemaking, axes, beads and bows appeared, technological change accelerated.
The technological revolution was not the work of one person. The different groups of humans that had innovations arose and then spread. One-offs were the key inventions. They were discovered once, then shared. Many of history's big inventions were created by a few clever people.
Not all of them were modern humans.
The spear has a tip.
The spearpoint was created 500,000 years ago in southern Africa. Spearpoints were the first "composite tools" and revolutionary as weaponry.
Neanderthals spread the spearpoint 300,000 years ago in East Africa and the Mideast. The spearpoint was gradually passed on from one person to another, all the way from Africa to Europe.
The fire was catching fire.
In Europe, the Mideast and Africa, there were hints of fire 400,000 years ago. It happened roughly the same time everywhere, suggesting invention, then rapid spread. Keeping a fire going is easy. The main barrier was starting a fire. The invention of the fire-drill, a tool still used by hunter-gatherers, is thought to be the result of widespread use of fire.
Neanderthals inhabited Europe and the oldest evidence for regular fire use came from there. Neanderthals may have been the first to fire. Why not? Neanderthals used their brains for something and lived through Europe's ice-age winters.
The spearpoint of the Serengeti. Nick Longrich is the author.
The axe.
In central Africa, hand-axes began to disappear, replaced by a new technology called the core-axe. The core-axes looked like fat hand-axes, but were vastly different tools. The axe was bound to wooden handles and made a true hafted axe. Modern humans were able to carry axes into the Arabian peninsula, Australia, and ultimately Europe.
Ornamentation.
The oldest beads are from Morocco. They were made by piercing snail shells. Modern humans weren't made at the time because archaic Homo sapiens inhabited North Africa.
Neanderthals wore beads in Europe 115,000–120,000 years ago, and they were adopted by modern humans in southern Africa 70,000 years ago.
A fire drill. Nick Longrich is the author.
There is a bow and arrow.
The ancestors of the Bushmen lived in southern Africa for 200,000 years and are believed to have made the oldest arrowheads. Modern humans in East Africa, south Asia, Europe, and Alaska and the Americas all have bows.
The timing of the bow's spread means it was used against Neanderthals.
The technology is used for trading.
It's possible that people invented similar technologies in different parts of the world at the same time. The simplest explanation for the archaeological data is that many advances were made just once, then spread widely. Figuring out how to assume fewer innovations requires less assumptions.
How did technology spread? African humans probably didn't meet Neanderthals in Europe because they traveled long distances through hostile lands. Instead, technology and ideas were transferred from one tribe to another, and from one region to another.
Kondoa beads. Nick Longrich is the author.
Conflict could have led to people stealing or capturing tools and weapons. Native Americans captured horses from the Spanish. It's likely that people traded technologies because it was easier. Modern hunter-gatherers, who lack money, still trade with neighboring tribes.
Such trade is old. Over 300 kilometers from where the beads were made in South Africa, they have been found. Modern hunter-gatherers typically travel further away than archaic Homo sapiens, who used tools from 50– 150 kilometers away.
Some exchanges may have been gifts. As now, tribes may have had peaceful interactions with their neighbors because of the technology they have.
Stone Age people.
There is another remarkable implication of the pattern seen here. Progress may have been dependent on single individuals rather than larger cultural forces.
Consider the bow. It's so useful that it seems inevitable. If it was obvious, we'd see bows invented in different parts of the world. Australian Aborigines and people in Europe and Asia did not invent the bow.
Hadzabe archer. Nick Longrich is the author.
The bow and arrow are from Africa. The map is credited to Nick Longrich.
It seems that one clever Bushman invented the bow, and everyone else adopted it. The hunter's invention would change the course of human history for thousands of years to come.
The prehistoric pattern is similar to what we've seen before. Farming, calendars, pyramids, mathematics, writing, and beer were all invented independently around the world. Certain inventions may be obvious enough to respond to people's needs.
The wheel, gunpowder, printing press, stirrups, and compass are some of the key innovations that have been invented.
Highly creative individuals such as Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison, the Wright Brothers, and James Watt had a huge impact on our technological evolution.
That suggests that the odds of hitting on a major technological innovation are low. It is possible that fire, spearpoints, axes, beads and bows would be discovered when they were.
One person could change the course of history with an idea.
The Conversation's article is a Creative Commons licensed one. The original article can be found here.
How a handful of prehistoric geniuses launched humanity's technological revolution was retrieved fromphys.org on January 1.
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