The first stone tools were not hunting implements. They were weapons. More specifically, they were agricultural implements specifically used for pest control, directed against very large food competitor species as part of a hominid community's larger strategy to survive the annual, predator infested, deadly dry season.

Hunting would have evolved gradually as an extension of pest control communal territorialism. In other words, pest control agriculture evolved first. Hunting using tools/implements would have followed. So, agriculture using pest control implements (originally just sticks and stone wielded against herds of large mammal food competitors species) evolved first. Using these same implements hunting behaviors evolved/emerged gradually. So hunting was NOT the focus of the earliest stone tools.

Maintaining access to fresh food (mostly fruits and nuts) and fresh water through the depths of deadly (predator infested) monsoon generated, dry seasons was the main means of survival for the earliest hominid communities. Communal territorialism was the main purpose of the earliest stone tools. Hunting would have been a secondary consideration.

James McGinn / Genius
The Earliest Years of Human Evolution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7TwiVul7F0&t=943s&pp=ygUvY2xhdWRpdXMgZGVuayBlYXJsaWVzdCB5ZWFycyBvZiBodW1hbiBldm9sdXRpb24%3D

Op maandag 13 november 2023 om 16:58:20 UTC+1 schreef James McGinn:

The first stone tools were shellfish-openers, of course!
Genius' blabla:

> The first stone tools were not hunting implements. They were weapons. More specifically, they were agricultural implements specifically used for pest control, directed against very large food competitor species as part of a hominid community's larger strategy to survive the annual, predator infested, deadly dry season.
> Hunting would have evolved gradually as an extension of pest control communal territorialism. In other words, pest control agriculture evolved first.. Hunting using tools/implements would have followed. So, agriculture using pest control implements (originally just sticks and stone wielded against herds of large mammal food competitors species) evolved first. Using these same implements hunting behaviors evolved/emerged gradually. So hunting was NOT the focus of the earliest stone tools.
> Maintaining access to fresh food (mostly fruits and nuts) and fresh water through the depths of deadly (predator infested) monsoon generated, dry seasons was the main means of survival for the earliest hominid communities. Communal territorialism was the main purpose of the earliest stone tools. Hunting would have been a secondary consideration.
> James McGinn / Genius
> The Earliest Years of Human Evolution
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7TwiVul7F0&t=943s&pp=ygUvY2xhdWRpdXMgZGVuayBlYXJsaWVzdCB5ZWFycyBvZiBodW1hbiBldm9sdXRpb24%3D

On Mon, 13 Nov 2023 08:06:10 -0800 (PST), Marc Verhaegen
<m_verhaegen@skynet.be> wrote:

>Op maandag 13 november 2023 om 16:58:20 UTC+1 schreef James McGinn:
>
>The first stone tools were shellfish-openers, of course!

Nope.
The oldest Oldowan is associated with hippo butchery and plant
processing, not shellfish processing:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/368393593

On Monday, November 13, 2023 at 9:15:35 AM UTC-8, Pandora wrote:
> On Mon, 13 Nov 2023 08:06:10 -0800 (PST), Marc Verhaegen
> <m_ver...@skynet.be> wrote:
>
> >Op maandag 13 november 2023 om 16:58:20 UTC+1 schreef James McGinn:
> >
> >The first stone tools were shellfish-openers, of course!
> Nope.
> The oldest Oldowan is associated with hippo butchery and plant
> processing, not shellfish processing:
> https://www.researchgate.net/publication/368393593

Kudu runner:
> The oldest Oldowan is associated with hippo butchery and plant
> processing, not shellfish processing:
> https://www.researchgate.net/publication/368393593

Yes, chimps & australopiths (& even some monkeys) also use(d) stones sometimes
(our Pliocene ancestors genus Homo were not in Africa, of course, Yohn cs 2005):
when the Red Sea opened into the Gulf of Aden (5.33 Ma?),
- Homo went left, along the N-Ind.Ocean shores --> Java H.erectus early-Pleist.,
- Pan went right, along the W-Ind.Ocean shores --> Transvaal A.africanus:
no doubt they used stone tools on the W-Ind.Ocean coasts + afterwards, e.g.
"Identifying functional and regional differences in chimpanzee stone tool technology"
Tomos Proffitt cs 2022 doi org/10.1098/rsos.220826