The earliest examples of stone tools date from 2.3 million years ago. Hominids from this epoch are usually depicted as very apelike, lacking the dexterity and intelligence to fashion complex tools. Recently, though, evidence has emerged that contradicts this long-held belief.

The earliest stone tools consist of stones reshaped by the user to form a simple blade. The user hits a larger stone with a smaller one to knock off pieces, called flakes, in a process known as "flaking." Until the 1990s, few anthropologists would've considered the idea that the earliest hominids used their intellect to craft more complicated tools, or that their flaking techniques exhibited planning, analysis, and precision. But the tools unearthed in Kenya during the 1990s illustrated just these traits. The toolmaker removed as many as 30 flakes from a single stone to achieve the perfect shape. Examining other examples from the same region showed that the toolmakers worked according to a defined process, rather than randomly flaking off bits until they happened upon the right shape. Having discovered the ideal angle for striking the stone, the toolmakers also duplicated the angle each time, resulting in a remarkable similarity between the tools. These "ape-men" clearly had the forethought and analytical skills to recognize the best angle, reproduce it with multiple stones, repeat the flaking process until they got it right, and teach their skills to their brethren.

Evidence from Tanzania hints that early hominids did more than scavenge whatever carcasses they stumbled over in their wanderings. At one site, hominids traveled some distance to find a meal, which they then brought back to their home territory—as evidenced by the animal bones found there. Hominids must've searched for carcasses, or even hunted the animals themselves, then transported the carcasses to another location where the flesh was removed using stone tools. The hominids didn't live where they de-fleshed their carcasses. Instead, they seem to have chosen one site as their butcher shop, and another for the living quarters.

Other evidence implies ancient hominids had culture and ritual. A number of sites preserve Neanderthals burials—individuals purposely interred, rather than covered by sediment from flood waters or crushed under falling stones. At Kebara Cave in Israel and La Chapelle-aux-Saints in France we find simple pits in which Neanderthals buried the deceased; at Le Moustier in France, we discover a teenage boy buried with care on a bed of flint flakes, his head placed on one arm; at La Ferrassie in France, we encounter a cemetery where two adults and four children were laid to rest.

Then we have Homo heidelbergensis, an erectus