

An examination of the past and present material record of primates reveals new perspectives in our own origins. Overlaps between primatology and archaeology are uncommon, but a review in the most recent issue (16 July) Nature makes the case for a new field of primate archaeology.
Archaeologists dig for evidence of past human activity, using artefacts such as tools, pottery and the detritus of day-to-day existence to build up a picture of life at the time. Non-human species feature rarely, appearing in the detritus if they were eaten, as domestic animals or for early archaeology, as dating evidence.
Michael Haslam of the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge and colleagues argue that important questions can be tackled from a new perspective. Primates use tools, create living sites and construct social groups. All these activities leave their mark in the archaeological record, and with it the evidence that puts the evolution of cognition and tool use in humans into context.
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