3 December 2014
About half a million years ago, Homo erectus on Java was already using the shells of freshwater mussels as raw material for tools and as a “canvas” for an engraving. Dutch scientists report on this in Nature (4 December 2014). The discovery provides new insights into the evolution of human behaviour. This research result is a beautiful example of interdisciplinary NWO research: dating methods from the Earth sciences provide insights into the humanities.