London: Stone age humans took nearly two million years to
develop the brain power to make sophisticated tools like hand-
held stone axes, a new study has claimed. Researchers at the
Imperial College London have found that the early humans needed
so long to produce advanced implements because the ability to
handle complex thought was a slow evolution. According to the
researchers, the ability to form language and to design advanced
tools occurs in the same part of the brain and so these skills
were likely to have developed in humans at around the same time.
Lead researcher Dr Aldo Faisal was quoted by the 'Daily Express'
as saying, "The advance from crude stone tools to elegant hand-
held axes was a massive leap for our The study, published in the
'PLoS One' journal, employed a craftsman called a flintnapper to
copy ancient tool -making techniques while being monitored.
Computer modelling using tiny sensors embedded in a "data glove"
assessed the hand skills needed to make a crude sharp stone from
the Lower Pala