Three thousand years of wild capuchin stone tool use

Falótico, T., Proffitt, T., Ottoni, E. B., Staff, R. A. and Haslam, M. (2019) Three thousand years of wild capuchin stone tool use. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 3, pp. 1034-1038. (doi: 10.1038/s41559-019-0904-4) (PMID:31235926)

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Abstract

The human archaeological record changes over time. Finding such change in other animals requires similar evidence, namely, a long-term sequence of material culture. Here, we apply archaeological excavation, dating and analytical techniques to a wild capuchin monkey (Sapajus libidinosus) site in Serra da Capivara National Park, Brazil. We identify monkey stone tools between 2,400 and 3,000 years old and, on the basis of metric and damage patterns, demonstrate that capuchin food processing changed between ~2,400 and 300 years ago, and between ~100 years ago and the present day. We present the first example of long-term tool-use variation outside of the human lineage, and discuss possible mechanisms of extended behavioural change.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:The study was funded by a European Research Council Starting Investigator Grant (No. 283959) to M.H.; a São Paulo Research Foundation award to T.F. (No. 2013/05219-0) and E.B.O. (No. 2014/04818-0); a CNPq PQ Grant (No. 308746/2017-1) to E.B.O.; a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship (No. ECF-2015-396) awarded to R.A.S.; and a British Academy Fellowship (No. pf170157) awarded to T.P. Support for fieldwork and analysis was provided by N. Guidon and G. Daltrini Felice of FUMDHAM. Fieldwork at SCNP was approved by Brazilian environmental protection agencies (IBAMA/ICMBio Nos. 37609-5 and 37615-5).
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Staff, Dr Richard
Authors: Falótico, T., Proffitt, T., Ottoni, E. B., Staff, R. A., and Haslam, M.
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre
Journal Name:Nature Ecology and Evolution
Publisher:Nature
ISSN:2397-334X
ISSN (Online):2397-334X
Published Online:24 June 2019
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2019 Springer Nature Limited
First Published:First published in Nature Ecology and Evolution 3:1034-1038
Publisher Policy:Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher

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