Chimps’ Love for Crystals Could Help Us Understand Our Own Ancestors’ Fascination With Gems

hubie writes:

Chimps' love for crystals could help us understand our own ancestors' fascination with these stones:

For hundreds of thousands of years, our hominin ancestors collected crystals. Something about these stones made them desirable, even when they weren't used for anything. But then why collect them at all? To learn more about the roots of this fascination, scientists in Spain ran experiments with individuals from the species most closely related genetically to hominins and humans: chimpanzees. Chimps were drawn to crystals' transparency and shape and could quickly distinguish them from normal rocks. These findings could show why objects with crystal-like properties have intrigued our ancestors for almost 800,000 years - and continue to pique our interest today.

Crystals have repeatedly been found at archaeological sites alongside Homo remains. Evidence shows hominins have been collecting these stones for as long as 780,000 years. Yet, we know that our ancestors did not use them as weapons, tools, or even jewelry. So why did they collect them at all?

Now, in a new Frontiers in Psychology study, scientists in Spain investigated which characteristics of crystals may have made them so fascinating to our ancestors. They designed experiments with chimpanzees - one of the two great ape species most closely related to modern humans - to identify the physical properties of crystals that may have attracted early hominins.

"We show that enculturated chimpanzees can distinguish crystals from other stones," said lead author Prof Juan Manuel Garcia-Ruiz, an Ikerbasque Research Professor on crystallography at the Donostia International Physics Center in San Sebastian. "We were pleasantly surprised by how strong and seemingly natural the chimpanzees' attraction to crystals was. This suggests that sensitivity to such objects may have deep evolutionary roots."

[...] In the first experiment, a large crystal - the monolith - was placed on a platform, along with a normal rock of similar size. While initially both objects caught the chimps' attention, soon the crystal was preferred and the rock disregarded. Once they had removed it from the platform, all chimps inspected the crystal, rotating and tilting it so they could view it from specific angles. Yvan then picked up the crystal and decisively carried it to the dormitories.

Interest was strongest early after exposure and declined very gradually over time, the team observed. The same pattern is found in humans as the novelty of an objects fades. When caretakers tried to retrieve the crystal from the chimps' enclosure, they had to exchange it for favored snacks: bananas and yogurt.

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