Humans have had the upper hand for longer than they realised.

New research has found the distinctly human ability to make a powerful grip and perform delicate and precise movements with the hand evolved 500,000 years earlier than previously thought.

Precision grip: a modern human grasps a bone from an Australopithecus africanus' thumb. Credit:T.L. Kivell/M. Skinner

These unique traits, setting us apart from our ape cousins, are thought to have developed around the time early humans climbed down from the trees and began using tools.

But the timing of this transition has been debated for decades.