Curtis Marean and Kyle Brown, both paleoanthropologists with the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University, say the discovery of fired and flaked stone tools in southern Africa helps the understanding of human behavioral evolution. Here, Marean says the finding indicates that humans' ability to solve complex problems may have occurred at the same time their modern genetic lineage appeared some 200,000-150,000 years ago, rather than developing later as has been widely speculated.

Credit: Arizona State University/National Science Foundation

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