Abstract
For the last 10 years J. GOODALL and her coworkers have gathered abundant data on tool use and incipient tool making by free ranging chimpanzees in East Africa. Students of hominid origins have used these findings in attempts at reconstructing the hominisation process. When doing so, however, it is important to remember that the function played by tool behavior in the chimpanzee subsistence pattern is still far from being well understood. Some 60 years ago, W. KOEHLER had already observed most or all of the behaviors later reported from East Africa. The comments he then made appear to be still valid today. Specifically, they recommend great prudence in interpreting the function of tool behavior in chimpanzees. The latter, he felt, may often be closer to play than to the performance of a task.
KOEHLER's remarks also suggest the kind of observations needed in order to clarify the meaning of the tool behaviors reported from Africa. Should these observations confirm that object manipulation in chimpanzees always contains an important element of play, one would have to consider the possibility that toys may have been as important as tools as an index of the emergence of the capabilities responsible for human behavior.
