The emergence of stone knapping has often been considered as a key to the understanding of human evolution. However, up to now, the question of why non human primates are not able to knap stone, even in a rudimentary way, has been left without answer. As expressed by W.C. McGrew, the challenge remains to find anything uniquely hominid in the capacities needed to make lithic artefacts. This book pretends to accept the challenge by calling upon actualist studies based on a multidisciplinary perspective that embraces psychology, biomechanics, primatology, and neurosciences as well as archaeology. The result is an integrated construct permitting to better characterize the skills involved in stone knapping. While up to now the motor components of such skills has been of little concern, it appears that it could be the corner stone of a high degree of skill. In effect, planning, which relates to the cognitive component of knapping, appears to be effective depending on a sharp tuning of elementary movements. From an evolutionary point of view this prerequisite may have emerged from the complex dynamic between the unfolding of posture, handedness and bimanual coordination. This dynamic is investigated at both its behavioural level and its biological substrate level. However specific cultural transmission conditions may have been a deciding factor as well and are also considered.
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