Granted, top ten lists are a bit out of style these days, and now I know why.
1.7 Million Year Old Acheulean Handaxe from Kokiselei, Kenya. P.-J. Texier © MPK/WTAP
I blithely put together a top ten list of my votes for the best human innovations over the course of our evolution, and after I was done discovered I'd left one out: writing.
But what good is that without chocolate?
Comments
11th place or first would be the digging stick – used one myself not too long ago to plant corn. Digging sticks do not, of course, show up in the archaeological record, but we know (thanks to Jane Goodall) that chimps use sticks to poke for termites. A pointed stick is a great tool for hitting, stabbing and even digging. And I am sure that before anyone figured out the design for a hand ax (I remember some archaeologist suggested that they were thrown) just a sharp edge on a rock was a great improvement on depending on teeth. I used to ask, “After you have brought down your gazelle or whatever then what. It’s covered with leather. So a sharp edged rock probably was a great improvement and then the digging stick made it possible to dig up all those tubers that some prominent archaeologists credited with making our brains bigger and us so smart. Digging stick.
You mentioned leaving out writing, but the heading of the list reads “Top Ten Inventions of (pre)history. Wouldn’t the invention of writing be the dividing line between prehistory and history? After reflecting a bit, I’m wondering if what is prehistory in one place couldn’t co-exist with the historical period in other places. The line blurs.
It would be interesting to see others’ lists of the most important inventions of archaeological times. Some people might leave chocolate off the list. Luddites! I would add the bow and arrows.