185 ABSTRACT In this chapter, I summarize some previously published work on the significance of the earliest stone tools in comparison with chimpanzee tool making and use. I then put that into the context of some theorizing about human cognition and its implications for understanding the evolution of hominin and human cognition. I then conclude with an extended discussion of the standard story of changes in stone-artifact making and use in the context of other recent theorizing about the evolution of language. I conclude that stone tools can be interpreted to give strong evidence about the evolution of cognition, but the outcomes depend on careful assessment of the theoretical basis for the argument. RELATING COGNITIVE ABILITIES TO THE PRODUCTION OF STONE TOOLS My present approach to stone tools and cognition was developed in 2003 during a research project titled Precursors to Culture at the Collegium Budapest led by Richard Byrne. Byrne has recorded the sequence of actions routinely engaged NINE IaIn DavIDson UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND Stone Tools and the Evolution of Hominin and Human Cognition