The origins and practice of insect-foraging technology

Abstract

Over the course of our evolution, humans have developed increasingly sophisticated technology for utilising natural resources. The origins of these technologies are difficult to identify since they rely on natural resources that are often perishable in local environments so do not preserve for archaeologists to find millions of years later. However, by looking at our closest cousin in the order Primates, we see that chimpanzees utilise tools, most commonly for foraging for social insects such as ants and termites. This parallel suggests that our early ancestors would have had a similar capacity for making and using tools, quite possibly for the same goal of extracting insects from their nests. By 1.5 million years ago, we see archaeological evidence of tools used for insect foraging in the form of bone digging implements. With the evolution of our genus Homo, the capacity to use forethought to create more complicated tools opens up the possibility for baskets and nets. These items do not preserve in very ancient sediments, but they begin to appear around 25,000 years ago, and their utility to contemporary foraging populations supports the notion of a more ancient origin. Each of these advances intensifies human utilisation of insects as a food resource and are precursor to more extensive environmental manipulation and eventual agriculture. As insect consumption scales up around the world today, it requires increasing intensification, but this is a challenge humans have been overcoming for millions of years.