From hand to handle: the first industrial revolution

As humans we are all utterly dependent on technology for our survival. We rely on tools to feed and protect ourselves, but they are also deeply embedded in our everyday social lives. Just try living without your mobile phone or internet access, the espresso machine or a knife and fork and you will soon appreciate the social importance of 'things'. For more than two million years we have evolved physically and socially and tools have been an integral part of our becoming human. Even though archaeologists know a lot about how tools were made, we understand little about how and why changes in technology happened. Trial and error and necessity might be all we need to consider, plus that rare eureka moment of invention. In reality the process of technological change was likely to have been more complex, at least in the recent evolutionary past, and that complexity can be seen all around us today.

W.B. Arthur, a 'complexity theorist' (The Nature of Technology, 2009) observes that all modern technology works on the principle of 'combinatorial evolution' in which multiple parts are integrated to make a tool, and each of these parts is a tool in its own right and each component is made by other tools which involve other tools, and so on. A random selection of contemporary objects such as a pencil, iPhone, or the Large Hadron Collider illustrates the principle at work, as do basic materials, such as paper, plastic and steel which are themselves made by machinery composed of multiple interacting components. Tools beget tools in an almost self-generating process. Combinatorial evolution speeds the process of innovation with the potential for endless novel combinations of parts to emerge as creative solutions to problems. These new combinations will in turn generate supporting technologies and news fields of expertise. Our growing dependence on the internet for organising our social and economic lives typifies the revolutionary potential of combinatorial evolution as spin-offs, such as apps, emerge at an ever increasing rate. The speed of change is breathtaking, especially from an archaeologist's perspective.

The aim of this study, 'From Hand to Handle', is to trace the archaeological origins of the combinatorial principle, to find out when and where it emerged and to try and understand the social and environmental conditions that spurred its development and spread. At the moment, some of the earliest evidence for tools made from multiple working parts (cutting edges mounted on handles or shafts) comes from the period between 400,000 and 250,000 years ago in Europe, Africa and possibly Asia. This period predates the appearance of our species, Homo sapiens, and it's not clear where exactly the technology began or if it was developed independently by more than one group of early humans and then spread throughout the world. The Hand to Handle project examines the archaeological evidence from each continent to try and resolve the issue of its origin, but also looks at genetic and fossil evidence to determine when early humans had developed enough brain power to imagine new kinds of tools made from multilple parts and different materials. The kind of hierarchical thought involved in envisaging composite tools was also involved in the evolution of language, with the two processes being inextricably linked.

Once developed, composite technology diversified into new forms as illustrated by archaeological examples drawn from the period after 120,000 years ago. The project also involves the study of ethnographic collections of hafted tools held in museums in the UK and USA. These historic artefacts reveal the range of composite tools made by hunter-gatherers from the tropics to the arctic, highlighting the importance of the combinatorial principle in enabling humans to colonise the globe.

The project results will be published as a book by Oxford University Press.

The concept of combinatorial evolution has been introduced to the private sector and elements of academia (engineers and economists) through the work of complexity theorist W.B. Arthur (The Nature of Technology, 2009). Its application to the human evolutionary record as offered here is new, and has the potential to reach a broader non-academic audience through a coordinated dissemination strategy involving the media (print and electronic), a dedicated website and an exhibition.
Archaeology enjoys a high public profile in part through its enduring presence on television (eg, Time Team, Horizon, Discovery Channel) and the media appetite for reporting new discoveries and ideas that challenge preconceptions about early humans. The Hand to Handle project with its interdisciplinary content will appeal to that substantial portion of the public that derives enjoyment and intellectual stimulation from the media coverage of archaeology, anthropology and natural history. The initial dissemination will be through the project monograph which will be written in a format to reach an educated but not exclusively academic audience. The book will be published in 2012 and media dissemination will follow. Media coverage of the findings will be generated through a publicity campaign organised with the help of the University of Liverpool (Corporate Communications) and Oxford University Press. Public dissemination is planned through radio, television and print media as described in more detail in the Pathways to Impact. A dedicated website presented in a non-technical style will feature on the University's publically accessible webpage, and a separate link will be available through the School of Archaeology, Classics & Egyptology 'Unearthed' news page. Discussions are underway with the Victoria Gallery & Museum, Liverpool, to host a From Hand to Handle exhibition. A linked practical handling exhibition will be available for school groups through the Gallery's learning services. Students would be given the opportunity to handle genuine artefacts and create their own composite tools to illustrate the combinatorial principle. A range of modern object will be included to underline the centrality of composite technology in our daily lives. I will present public talks on the subject through the Gallery's adult learners programme and to local archaeological and historical societies.