PrehistoryLower Palaeolithic · Qesem Cave, Israel
Early humans may have kept keepsakes 500,000 years ago, Tel Aviv researchers propose
Colourful pebbles, fossil-bearing handaxes and old flint tools from sites in Israel may have served as reminders of places and events, a new study suggests.
In brief 3 key points
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- Tel Aviv University researchers propose that early humans kept objects as personal reminders about half a million years ago
- Examples include colourful pebbles from Qesem Cave and handaxes made around fossils in the Sakhnin Valley
- The authors stress that the idea is a hypothesis, not proof
Early humans may have kept small objects as personal keepsakes about half a million years ago, according to researchers at Tel Aviv University. They argue the habit may have shaped the evolution of human memory.
The study was led by Yoav Ram of the School of Zoology, with Ran Barkai and Ella Assaf of the Department of Archaeology. Liad Mudrik of the School of Psychological Sciences and Bar Efrati of Oxford University also took part. It appears in the journal Evolutionary Anthropology.
Objects with no practical use
The authors point to objects that early humans collected, carried and kept without any apparent practical purpose. Several come from sites in Israel that are hundreds of thousands of years old.
Small, colourful pebbles brought from different places were found in Qesem Cave, with no practical use identified. In the Sakhnin Valley, handaxes were shaped from flint that contained fossils or unusual geological patterns. In some tools these features sit at the centre of the stone, where they could be seen and touched.
At Revadim, Jaljulia and Qesem Cave, people collected old flint tools whose surfaces had changed with time. Some were resharpened, but most of the original surface and earlier workmanship was kept. The researchers suggest that the aged look itself may have held value.
A link to memory
An object brought back from a place could have triggered the memory of a personal experience, the team says. Over many generations, this may have put pressure on brain mechanisms that judge the source and reliability of a memory. The authors connect this to the evolution of autobiographical memory.
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Barkai suggests a link with environmental change. The disappearance of large animals, particularly elephants, pushed people to learn new hunting grounds with animals such as fallow deer and wild cattle.
“Objects taken from these places may have helped them maintain a personal connection with the places that would henceforth provide their livelihood.”
Ran Barkai, Tel Aviv University
The authors emphasise that this is a hypothesis, not proof that every unusual stone was a keepsake. The paper is titled Homo Memorabiliaxis: Souvenirs and the Evolution of Autobiographical Memory and Self.
Sources (2)
Peer-reviewed paperfrom Tel Aviv University and University of Oxford
- Did early humans collect keepsakes 500,000 years ago? (Phys.org)
- Early humans may have collected keepsakes 500,000 years ago, Tel Aviv study suggests (EurekAlert! (Tel Aviv University))
Paper: Barkai et al., Homo Memorabiliaxis: Souvenirs and the Evolution of Autobiographical Memory and Self, Evolutionary Anthropology (2026)
Edited by Guiseppe Weijermars
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