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Re: ev. of tools
SS51000 (SS51@NEMOMUS.BITNET)
Fri, 10 Mar 1995 15:30:23 CST
My enthusiasm for tool-making and tool-using as a parsimonious
explanation for hominid evolution is based on what I suddenly realized
was an unstated, and perhaps not widely shared, notion of what hominids
*are*. For a long time now I have viewed hominids as characterized
essentially by (1) bipedalism, (2) small canines, and (3) large brains.
The tool hypothesis seems to help account for all three, while other
hypotheses seem to address them one at a time. It occurred to me that
one reason several readers find my position unclear could be that they
don't share my conception of what hominids are. Admittedly, my notion
is strongly anatomical/skeletal in nature, based on direct comparison of
ourselves with the great apes. I think I got my trio of features from
an old article by Milford Wolpoff, but I have forgotten the exact
reference. It sounds like its ultimate origin could be *The Descen
t of Man*. Can anyone tell me the source? --Bob Graber
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