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“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”: Conservation vs. innovation in homo tool industries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2026

Michelle Scalise Sugiyama Open the ORCID record for Michelle Scalise Sugiyama [Opens in a new window]
Michelle Scalise Sugiyama*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA mscalise@uoregon.edu https://blogs.uoregon.edu/humananimallab/
*
*Corresponding author.
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Abstract

If childhood was critical to cultural adaptation, we would expect to see regular innovation in Homo tool industries. However, the Acheulean, Mousterian, and early H. sapiens industries are remarkably stable. Evidence of prolific innovation is largely absent before the European Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition, which is associated with increased longevity in H. sapiens, suggesting that innovation was sparked by grandparenthood.

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Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 49 , 2026 , e247
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© The Author(s), 2026. Published by Cambridge University Press

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