{"id":60902,"date":"2021-12-29T17:44:30","date_gmt":"2021-12-29T22:44:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=60902"},"modified":"2021-12-29T17:44:30","modified_gmt":"2021-12-29T22:44:30","slug":"how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\/","title":{"rendered":"How a handful of prehistoric geniuses launched humanity\u2019s technological revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nFor the first few million years of human evolution, technologies changed slowly. Some three million years ago, our ancestors were making\u00a0chipped stone flakes and crude choppers<\/a>. Two million years ago,\u00a0hand-axes<\/a>. A million years ago, primitive humans sometimes used\u00a0fire<\/a>, but with difficulty. Then, 500,000 years ago, technological change accelerated, as spearpoints, firemaking, axes, beads and bows appeared.<\/p>\n

This technological revolution wasn\u2019t the work of one people. Innovations arose in different groups \u2013\u00a0modern Homo sapiens<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0primitive sapiens<\/em><\/a>, possibly even\u00a0Neanderthals<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 and then spread. Many key inventions were unique: one-offs. Instead of being invented by different people independently, they were discovered once, then shared. That implies a few clever people created many of history\u2019s big inventions.<\/p>\n

And not all of them were modern humans.<\/p>\n

The tip of the spear<\/h4>\n

500,000 years ago in southern Africa<\/a>, primitive\u00a0Homo sapiens<\/em>\u00a0first bound stone blades to wooden spears, creating the spearpoint. Spearpoints were revolutionary as weaponry, and as the first \u201ccomposite tools\u201d \u2013 combining components.
\n

\"\"

Serengeti spearpoint. Nick Longrich, Author provided<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

The spearpoint spread, appearing 300,000 years ago in\u00a0East Africa<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Mideast<\/a>, then 250,000 years ago in Europe,\u00a0wielded by Neanderthals<\/a>. That pattern suggests the spearpoint was gradually passed on from one people to another, all the way from Africa to Europe.<\/p>\n

Catching fire<\/strong><\/h4>\n

400,000 years ago<\/a>\u00a0hints of fire, including charcoal and burnt bones, became common in Europe, the Mideast and Africa. It happened roughly the same time everywhere \u2013 rather than randomly in disconnected places \u2013 suggesting invention, then rapid spread. Fire\u2019s utility is obvious, and keeping a fire going is easy. Starting a fire is harder, however, and was probably the main barrier. If so, widespread use of fire likely marked the invention of the\u00a0fire-drill<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 a stick spun against another piece of wood to create friction, a tool still used today by hunter-gatherers.
\n

\"\"

Hadzabe fire drill. Nick Longrich, Author provided
<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

Curiously, the oldest evidence for regular fire use comes from Europe \u2013 then inhabited by Neanderthals. Did Neanderthals master fire first? Why not? Their brains\u00a0were as big as ours<\/a>; they used them for something, and living through Europe\u2019s ice-age winters, Neanderthals needed fire more than African\u00a0Homo sapiens<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The axe<\/strong><\/h4>\n

270,000 years ago<\/a>\u00a0in central Africa,\u00a0hand-axes<\/a>\u00a0began to disappear, replaced by a new technology, the\u00a0core-axe<\/a>. Core-axes looked like small, fat hand-axes, but were radically different tools. Microscopic scratches show core-axes were\u00a0bound to wooden handles<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 making a true, hafted axe. Axes quickly spread through Africa, then were carried by modern humans into the\u00a0Arabian peninsula<\/a>,\u00a0Australia<\/a>, and ultimately\u00a0Europe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ornamentation<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The oldest beads are\u00a0140,000 years old<\/a>, and come from Morocco. They were made by piercing snail shells, then stringing them on a cord. At the time,\u00a0archaic Homo sapiens<\/em><\/a>\u00a0inhabited North Africa, so their makers weren\u2019t modern humans.
\n

\"\"

Kondoa beads. Nick Longrich, Author provided<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

Beads then appeared in Europe, 115,000-120,000 years ago, worn by\u00a0Neanderthals<\/a>, and were finally adopted by modern humans\u00a0in southern Africa<\/a>\u00a070,000 years ago.<\/p>\n

Bow and arrow<\/h4>\n

\"\"

Hadzabe archer. Nick Longrich, Author provided<\/p><\/div>
\nThe oldest arrowheads appeared in southern Africa over\u00a070,000 years ago<\/a>, likely made by the ancestors of the Bushmen, who\u2019ve lived there for\u00a0200,000 years<\/a>. Bows then spread to modern humans in\u00a0East Africa<\/a>, to south Asia\u00a048,000 years ago<\/a>, on to Europe\u00a040,000 years ago<\/a>, and finally to Alaska and the Americas,\u00a012,000 years ago<\/a>.
\n

\"\"

Diffusion of Bow and Arrow out of Africa. Wikipedia (map) & Nick Longrich<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

Neanderthals never adopted bows, but the timing of the bow\u2019s spread means it was likely\u00a0used by Homo sapiens<\/em> against them<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trading technology<\/strong><\/h4>\n

It\u2019s not impossible that people invented similar technologies in different parts of the world at roughly the same time, and in some cases, this must have happened. But the simplest explanation for the archaeological data we have is that instead of reinventing technologies, many advances were made just once, then spread widely. After all, assuming fewer innovations requires fewer assumptions.<\/p>\n

But how did technology spread? It\u2019s unlikely individual prehistoric people travelled long distances through lands\u00a0held by hostile tribes<\/a>\u00a0(although there were obviously major migrations over generations), so African humans probably didn\u2019t meet Neanderthals in Europe, or vice versa. Instead, technology and ideas diffused \u2013 transferred from one band and tribe to the next, and the next, in a vast chain linking modern\u00a0Homo sapiens<\/em>\u00a0in southern Africa to archaic humans in North and East Africa, and Neanderthals in Europe.<\/p>\n

Conflict could have driven exchange, with people stealing or capturing tools and weapons. Native Americans, for example, got horses by\u00a0capturing them from the Spanish<\/a>. But it\u2019s likely that people often just traded technologies, simply because it was safer and easier. Even today, modern hunter-gatherers, who lack money, still trade \u2013 Hadzabe hunters exchange honey for iron arrowheads made by neighbouring tribes, for example.<\/p>\n

Archaeology shows such trade is ancient. Ostrich eggshell beads from South Africa, up to 30,000 years old, have been found over\u00a0300 kilometres<\/a>\u00a0from where they were made.\u00a0200,000<\/a>\u2014300,000<\/a>\u00a0years ago, archaic\u00a0Homo sapiens<\/em>\u00a0in East Africa used tools from obsidian sourced from 50-150 kilometres away, further than modern hunter-gatherers typically travel.<\/p>\n

Last, we shouldn\u2019t overlook human generosity \u2013 some exchanges may simply have been\u00a0gifts<\/a>. Human history and prehistory were doubtless\u00a0full of conflict<\/a>, but then as now, tribes may have had peaceful interactions \u2013 treaties,\u00a0marriages<\/a>, friendships \u2013 and may simply have gifted technology to their neighbours.<\/p>\n

Stone Age geniuses<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The pattern seen here \u2013 single origin, then spread of innovations \u2013 has another remarkable implication. Progress may have been highly dependent on single individuals, rather than being the inevitable outcome of larger cultural forces.<\/p>\n

Consider the bow. It\u2019s so useful that its invention seems both obvious and inevitable. But if it really was obvious, we\u2019d see bows invented repeatedly in different parts of the world. But Native Americans didn\u2019t invent the bow – neither did Australian Aborigines, nor people in Europe and Asia.<\/p>\n

Instead, it seems one clever Bushman invented the bow, and then everyone else adopted it. That hunter\u2019s invention would change the course of human history for thousands of years to come, determining the fates of peoples and empires.<\/p>\n

The prehistoric pattern resembles what we\u2019ve seen in historic times. Some innovations were developed repeatedly \u2013\u00a0farming<\/a>, civilisation, calendars, pyramids, mathematics,\u00a0writing<\/a>, and\u00a0beer<\/a>\u00a0were invented independently around the world, for example. Certain inventions may be obvious enough to emerge in a predictable fashion in response to people\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n

But many key innovations \u2013 the\u00a0wheel<\/a>, gunpowder, the printing press, stirrups, the compass \u2013 seem to have been invented just once, before becoming widespread.
\n

\"\"

Wright Brothers\u2019 first flight. wikipedia, CC BY-SA<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

And likewise a handful of individuals \u2013 Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, the\u00a0Wright Brothers<\/a>, James Watt, Archimedes \u2013 played outsized roles in driving our technological evolution, which implies highly creative individuals had a huge impact.<\/p>\n

That suggests the odds of hitting on a major technological innovation are low. Perhaps it wasn\u2019t inevitable that fire, spearpoints, axes, beads or bows would be discovered when they were.<\/p>\n

Then, as now, one person could literally change the course of history, with nothing more than an idea.<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong>Nicholas R. Longrich is a Senior Lecturer in Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Bath<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the first few million years of human evolution, technologies changed slowly. Some three million years ago, our ancestors were making\u00a0chipped stone flakes and crude choppers. Two million years ago,\u00a0hand-axes. A million years ago, primitive humans sometimes used\u00a0fire, but with difficulty. Then, 500,000 years ago, technological change accelerated, as spearpoints, firemaking, axes, beads and bows […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15645],"tags":[428831],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-60902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","tag-prehistoric-geniuses"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow a handful of prehistoric geniuses launched humanity\u2019s technological revolution - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How a handful of prehistoric geniuses launched humanity\u2019s technological revolution - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For the first few million years of human evolution, technologies changed slowly. Some three million years ago, our ancestors were making\u00a0chipped stone flakes and crude choppers. Two million years ago,\u00a0hand-axes. A million years ago, primitive humans sometimes used\u00a0fire, but with difficulty. Then, 500,000 years ago, technological change accelerated, as spearpoints, firemaking, axes, beads and bows […]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-29T22:44:30+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/prehistoric-geniuses.jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"How a handful of prehistoric geniuses launched humanity\u2019s technological revolution\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-29T22:44:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1248,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/12\\\/prehistoric-geniuses.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"prehistoric geniuses\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Education\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\\\/\",\"name\":\"How a handful of prehistoric geniuses launched humanity\u2019s technological revolution - World leading higher education information and services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/12\\\/prehistoric-geniuses.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-29T22:44:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/12\\\/prehistoric-geniuses.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/12\\\/prehistoric-geniuses.jpeg\",\"width\":680,\"height\":335},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How a handful of prehistoric geniuses launched humanity\u2019s technological revolution\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\",\"name\":\"World leading higher education information and services\",\"description\":\"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\",\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kevin\"},\"description\":\"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/author\\\/kevin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How a handful of prehistoric geniuses launched humanity\u2019s technological revolution - World leading higher education information and services","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How a handful of prehistoric geniuses launched humanity\u2019s technological revolution - World leading higher education information and services","og_description":"For the first few million years of human evolution, technologies changed slowly. Some three million years ago, our ancestors were making\u00a0chipped stone flakes and crude choppers. Two million years ago,\u00a0hand-axes. A million years ago, primitive humans sometimes used\u00a0fire, but with difficulty. Then, 500,000 years ago, technological change accelerated, as spearpoints, firemaking, axes, beads and bows […]","og_url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\/","og_site_name":"World leading higher education information and services","article_published_time":"2021-12-29T22:44:30+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/prehistoric-geniuses.jpeg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Kevin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"headline":"How a handful of prehistoric geniuses launched humanity\u2019s technological revolution","datePublished":"2021-12-29T22:44:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\/"},"wordCount":1248,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/prehistoric-geniuses.jpeg","keywords":["prehistoric geniuses"],"articleSection":["Education"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\/","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\/","name":"How a handful of prehistoric geniuses launched humanity\u2019s technological revolution - World leading higher education information and services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/prehistoric-geniuses.jpeg","datePublished":"2021-12-29T22:44:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/prehistoric-geniuses.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/prehistoric-geniuses.jpeg","width":680,"height":335},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/world.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How a handful of prehistoric geniuses launched humanity\u2019s technological revolution"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/","name":"World leading higher education information and services","description":"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee","name":"Kevin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kevin"},"description":"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.","sameAs":["https:\/\/world.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/author\/kevin\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60902"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60910,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60902\/revisions\/60910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60902"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=60902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}