From David Muir, Edinburgh, UK
Michael Marshall discusses hypotheses on absent fingers in Stone Age cave art. Perhaps there is a simpler explanation.
The ubiquitous practice of flint-knapping would have resulted in many injured and infected fingers. Rather than risk blood poisoning or gangrene, those with severely damaged digits could have amputated them with a newly knapped tool. So before Occam had a razor, there may have been a flint knife.
