‘Made in Africa’ Exhibition - A Volunteer’s View
A couple of months ago there was a call for volunteers to help with ‘handling sessions’ for the ‘Made in Africa’ exhibition at Bolton Museum this Easter. I stepped forward. It’s not something I’ve ever done before, or ever considered doing, but the chance to learn about and handle some of the oldest human artefacts ever discovered doesn’t come along every day, especially in Bolton. They held the training session with British Musuem staff today.
The exhibition is part of a British Museum tour showing the oldest items in their collection - stone tools from Olduvai Gorge in Africa. The exhibition has previously been held in San Francisco, London, Norwich and Newcastle and is now spending time in Bolton.
The purpose of the exhibition is to show everyone, or at least those who are interested, the most compelling evidence for when apes evolved into humans - the first evidence of planning and intention, the first creative spark, the first technological invention - and that it happened in Africa!
The first creatures to use a stone as a tool may have lived long before the first human ancestor, but the difference was that rather like chimps today they simply selected an appropriately shaped tool from what they could find around them, they never deliberately altered it, shaped it or travelled a long distance to find just the right material. Sometime around 2.4 million years ago in the region where the Great Rift Valley now lies this major leap occurred. Homo habilis (or ‘handy man’) was born. It was a simple affair to begin with - stones were chosen and deliberately smacked with another stone (the hammer stone) so that pieces flaked off to produce sharp edges useful for cutting and scraping. The oldest tool in the exhibition, made about 1.8 million years ago, is barely recognisable as a tool, but you can see where this round river pebble has been deliberately knapped (the posh word for making stone tools), if you look carefully and know what you’re looking for.
Over time, both the tools and the people that made them evolved. About 1.5 million years ago the hand axe appeared - it’s inventor was Homo erectus (or ‘upright man’). He’s also sometimes known as Homo ergaster depending on who you’re talking to. The hand axe is much more sophisticated and is easily recognisable as a tool. It has a characteristic tear drop shape and a symmetry and beauty not seen in the tools of Homo habilis. Experiments have shown that the symmetry seen in these tools is not essential to their function - their makers did not need to make them ‘just so’ - a much rougher tool would have done the same job. However, something made Home erectus choose to continue knapping each tool until this symmetry was achieved - a sense of beauty, and perhaps of pride? Over the millennia hand axes became finer - the flakes smaller and more precise. The hand axes in the exhibition were made about 800 thousand years ago and demonstrate their makers’ skills in working especially difficult materials.
Creating hand axes of this quality takes a great deal of skill and practice, and an understanding of the properties of the stone you are working. We all know that flint is the quintessential stone for making tools, but flint was not available in or near Olduvai Gorge. The early humans here used lavas and quartzite instead, perhaps using ’soft hammers’ made of bone or antler which gave much finer control over the size and shape of the flakes removed. The quartzite hand axe in the exhibition is perhaps the most beautiful - not only because of its sparkly surface, but because this is one of the most difficult types of stone to knap successfully. What these tools demonstrate is that Home erectus had an aesthetic sense. These early people could create tools that were more than simply functional - they were visually attractive and had a balance pleasing to both the hand and the eye. Some of the hand axes found are huge and unwieldy - it seems unlikely that these were made for use as actual tools. Perhaps these were ‘exhibition pieces’ - a demonstration of the maker’s prowess, or maybe they were gifts to woo a potential mate or to win favour with the clan chief.
What is clear is our reaction to these tools. You instantly want to pick them up, turn them over in your hands, feel their weight and texture and run your fingers along their cutting edge - to experience the tool as a tactile object. They take you back to the very beginning, to the essence of being human, to that first spark of invention and creativity that sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. But, usually the tools are behind glass - you cannot touch them, you can only imagine what they would be like to hold, what they would be like to use. Of course tools are meant to be handled - nobody can experience a tool simply by looking at it. Carpenters like to feel the balance of a hammer before they buy it and it’s a similar story for chefs and new knives. This is why this exhibition is so important - it offers an unique chance to experience these tools, to hold them, to understand their balance and function, to answer that question - what do they FEEL like?
My role in all this will be to help supervise the public’s handling of the stone tools - to ensure they don’t get dropped and broken. But more importantly to answer questions and stimulate discussion about the nature of these tools and their importance as markers of human evolution. To emphasise that they are African, and that therefore, ultimately, WE are African. That we are all decended from the people who made these tools and that the birthplace of humanity was Africa. I start on Saturday and I’m really looking forward to it.