Humans

Prehistoric assembly lines, a trigger for riots and more in this week's news

Early start for advanced tools
Large-scale production of sophisticated stone tools, using standardized assembly steps, emerged a surprisingly long time ago. Between 400,000 and 200,000 years ago, unidentified members of the genus Homo regularly made slender, sharp-edged blades and other animal-butchery implements at Qesem Cave in what’s now Israel, say archaeologist Ron Shimelmitz of Tel Aviv University and his colleagues.