Humans live in a global diaspora more than 8 billion strong, immune to all but biosphere-level extinction threats. Our ancestors overcame difficulties, surviving long enough to reproduce in greater numbers than other hominins. But how did they do it?

John J. Shea, Professor of Anthropology at Stony Brook University, poses the “Noise/Mess” hypothesis as an explanation- that Plio-Pleistocene hominins made stone tools at least in part to transmit social information and the effects contributed to their success. Shea discusses how percussive stoneworking created loud, distinctively anthropogenic “noise” and left behind equally distinctive fracture products (a “mess”) and used both as platforms for transmitting social and cultural information, including nearby presence of potential mates and social allies/rivals. This “Noise/Mess" hypothesis explains aspects of Plio-Pleistocene lithic evidence from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, and other Early Stone Age sites that the "Stone Cutting-and-Pounding Tools" hypothesis does not.

Moderator: Briana Pobiner, paleoanthropologist and educator at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

This Zoom webinar with John Shea aired live on November 20, 2025 as part of the ongoing "HOT (Human Origins Today) Topic" series.

Registration is required for this free online event. Please register here.