Richard Klein

The Dawn of Human Culture

Chapter 3 -- The World’s Oldest Whodunit

This chapter outlines the second major punctuated change – the emergence of hominid tool use. Examining tool use gives us clues as to how our ancestors fed themselves.

1) When do we see the first tool use by hominids?

2) Klein mentions two dating techniques. How does paleomagnetism work? How does Potassium-Argon dating work? Can it date tools? Fossil skeletons?

3) Do the collections of stone tools and bones with cut marks indicate the hominid use of base camps?

1) What were these early stone tools used for? How did this change the diet?

2) What features of stone tools allow us to identify them as being made by hominids?

Review these notes as you read each of Klein’s chapters. It will help you place each chapter in the big picture.