The Use of Tools by Human and Non-Human Primates
Contributions from a Symposium Organized by the Fyssen Foundation
Book
Paperback/Softback
352 pages
978-0-19-852262-1 (ISBN)
Description
This volume brings together contributions on the theme of tools from international specialists in various disciplines - anatomists, neurobiologists, prehistorians, ethnologists, and primatologists - at a symposium arranged by the Fyssen Foundation. Tools, whether of stone, wood, or metal, are a prolongation of the arm, but they acquire precision through the hand directed by the brain. A movement may have been identical from one individual to another, in apes and in humans, in the past and in the present, but the resulting action varies according to the extended use of the tool. It is therefore necessary to understand the origin of tools, and also to be able to describe the techniques of cutting stones and to imagine the possible uses of certain tools. Comparison of the techniques of chimpanzees with those of prehistoric Man and of 20th century Man has made it possible to appreciate the common aspects and to identify the differences.
The transmission of ability, and of the understanding also called apprenticeship, has been studied in the various relevant societies - chimpanzees in their natural habitat and in captivity, hunter-gatherers, and workmen in prehistoric and in modern times.
The transmission of ability, and of the understanding also called apprenticeship, has been studied in the various relevant societies - chimpanzees in their natural habitat and in captivity, hunter-gatherers, and workmen in prehistoric and in modern times.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Oxford University Press
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
57 line drawings, 1 half-tone, bibliography
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-19-852262-1 (9780198522621)
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Schweitzer Classification
Content
Introduction; primate hands and the human hand - the tool of tools, F.K. Jouffroy; the hand and the tool - the functional architecture of human technical skills, J. Paillard; control of the monkey's hand by the motor cortex, R. Lemon; human prehension and its prosthetic substitution, P. Rabischong; some one- and two-handed functions and processes in tool-use by pongids, B. Bresard; cognitive competence underlying tool-use in free-ranging orang-utans, K.A. Bard; tool use in a South American monkey species, an overview of the characteristics and limits of tool use in "Cebus Apella", E. Visalberghi; brains, hands, and minds - puzzling incongruences in ape tool-use, W.C. McGrew; tool-use and tool-making in wild chimpanzees, C.H. Boesch and H. Boesch; local variation of tools and tool-use among wild chimpanzee populations, Y. Sugiyma; the earliest stone tools - their implications for an understanding of the activities and behaviour of late Pliocene hominids, J.W.K. Harris and S.D. Capaldo; are we able to determine the function of the earliest palaeolithic tools?, S. Beyries; the origin of secondary tools, J. Kitahara-Frisch; the origin of tool-use and the evolution of social space in palaeolithic times - some reflections, M. Piperno; ecological determinism, group strategies, and individual decisions in the conception of prehistoric stone assemblages, C. Perles; tools and hunter-gatherers, T. Ingold; a framework for analyzing prehistoric stone tool manufacture and a tentative application to some early stone industries, J. Pelegrin; some socio-economic aspects of the knapping process among groups of hunter-gatherers in the Paris Basin area, C.I. Karlin, et al; the transfer of knowledge within the craft industries and trade guilds, J. Perriault; from polished stone tool to sacred axe - the axes of the Danis of Irian Jaya, Indonesia, P. Petrequin and A.M. Petrequin; how can we analyze and describe technical acts?, F. Sigaut.