Stone tool at British Museum reveals origins of human-made objects

A stone tool discovered in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, represents the oldest object in London, dating back 1.8 million years according to potassium-argon dating. Currently displayed at the British Museum, this artifact illustrates the moment early humans transformed geological material into conceptual 'things'. The museum itself houses approximately 6 million objects, excluding various operational items. London contains an unimaginable quantity of manufactured items accumulated over two millennia across its 1,570km² administrative area. Human-made material extends beyond Earth, with over 170,000kg on the moon and 300 million pieces of space debris orbiting the planet. The proliferation of objects can induce psychosomatic symptoms similar to Stendhal syndrome, typically triggered by overwhelming artistic beauty in places like Florence. This transformation from natural elements to human artifacts fundamentally altered humanity's relationship with nature, suggesting objects played a crucial role in human development. The concept of 'stuff' originated from such early tool-making activities, making all contemporary objects distant descendants of these primitive artifacts. Before this conceptual shift, all material existed solely within natural systems without human-imposed meaning. The article originally appeared in the January & February 2013 issue of ArtReview.