The emergence of technology: A cultural step or long-term evolution?

There are two hypotheses to explain the emergence of the technical behaviour: (1) a sudden and fast appearance across the African continent; (2) a long period of emergence and consolidation before it began to spread. We defend this second hypothesis and suggest that the hominid project started around 3 Myr ago, with a ‘biofunctional’ stage. Later than 2.5 Myr, the ‘biomorphotechnical’ stage began (Mode 1), and, at around 1.7 Myr, another stage emerged and developed: the ‘biopotential’ stage (Mode 2). All these stages consist of a two-part process: innovation/emergence, and socialization/generalization of a technical mode.