Stone-tool complexity showed no improvement trend across 700,000 years

Evidence

Based on current readings of the Oldowan data by some researchers, this may be the case. Different groups at different times used different knapping strategies and preferred different stone types. Some groups even made superior choppers, which were sharpened to an edge by flaking both sides. But any trend of improvement over time in stone tools is somewhere between fuzzy and nonexistent from 2.6 million years ago to roughly 1.9 million years ago. — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 937

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Even a language-trained bonobo cannot master Oldowan technique — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 927; Low creative barriers cause rapid novelty decay in cultural artifacts — W. David Marx, Blank Space: A Cultural History of the…, 696

Broader Connections

• Low creative barriers cause rapid novelty decay in cultural artifacts #expands (0.75) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 696