Mair nice stanes

As early as the Acheulian industry (Homo Erectus), fowk wis pickin up an hainin interestin stanes, the likes o fossils an crystals, accordin tae a thorough-gaun review o museum objecks by M.-H. Moncel et al ‘Non-utilitarian lithic objects from the European Paleolithic’, Archaeology Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 40/1 (2012) 24–40.

From the abstract: “The occurrence of non-utilitarian lithic objects, often modfied, in Middle Stone Age or Upper Paleolithic sites is now widely accepted as evidence of symbolic behavior associated with the appearance of Homo sapiens. However the occurrence of non-utilitarian and unusual objects in far earlier sites raises questions about their signficance.”