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February 13, 2007: The Chimpanzee Stone Age

Researchers have found evidence that chimpanzees from West Africa were cracking nuts with stone tools before the advent of agriculture, thousands of years ago. The result suggests chimpanzees developed this behaviour on their own, or even that stone tool use was a trait inherited from our common ancestor. Julio Mercader, Christophe Boesch and colleagues found the stones at the Noulo site in Côte d’Ivoire, the only known prehistoric chimpanzee settlement.

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Claudia Nebel (E-Mail: nebel at@eva.mpg.de, phone: +49 (0) 341-3550 200)

Original work:

Mercader, Julio, Huw Barton, Jason Gillespie, Jack Harris, Steven Kuhn, Robert Tyler, and Christophe Boesch
4300-year-old chimpanzee sites and the origins of percussive stone technology.
PNAS, February 2007

Photos: Chimpanzees of the TAI National Park in Côte d`Ivoire

Chris-excavate-3.jpg: Christophe Boesch holding a freshly excavated stone from the Noulo site	Julio-excavate-2.jpg: Julio Mercader excavating a stone from a stone-rich horizon
Julio-Noulo5.jpg: Julio Mercader excavating a stone from a stone-rich horizon	Julio-Noulo.jpg: A large view of the Noulo excavation site at the Tai National Park/Côte d´Ivoire
Marteau-use.jpg: A typical stone hammer used by chimpanzees in the Tai forest to crack Panda nuts showing a deep wear	Zyon1.jpg: Zyon, adult male, about to crack Panda nuts with a 5-kilogram heavy granit stone
Zyon2.jpg: Zyon, adult male, eating the almonds of the Panda nut he just cracked open	Zyon3.jpg: A juvenile chimpanzee looks as Zyon cracking and eating the nuts
Zyon4.jpg: A juvenile chimpanzee takes nut remains from Zyons anvil while Zyon is eating	Zyon5.jpg: The juvenile chimpanzee and Zyon are eating from the nuts that were opend by Zyon.

Videoclips: Nutcracking behaviour of Chimpanzees of the TAI National Park in Côte d`Ivoire

For professional press use (high resolution photos and videoclips) please contact:
Claudia Nebel (E-Mail: nebelat@eva.mpg.de, phone: +49 (0) 341-3550 200)

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