10 PREHISTORIC TOOLS AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS - HISTORY - 2025

The prehistoric or Stone Age tools that have been found are proof that man has always been the creator of tools to help him carry out his tasks.

The Stone Age precedes the Metal Age. It is the first period of prehistory, and includes three great stages that are: Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic, each of which meant important economic and social developments for humanity.

The main characteristic of the Stone Age is that man made the first stone tools, achieving a very important technical advance. Thus begins the efficient history of humanity.

Perhaps the man, tired of using only his body as a tool to survive, seeking to make the job easier and using his ability to think, began to use the elements to his advantage.

He found flint, an easy-to-find and polish stone that easily breaks into sharp blades, a characteristic that makes it excellent for making utensils. Then axes, punches, scrapers and hammers emerge. Other types of stone used were quartz and obsidian.

Almost all the instruments found in the excavations are very rudimentary elements, carved stones for manual use (Claudio, 2016).

The 10 most relevant tools of the Stone Age

The Paleolithic period (or Old Stone Age) is the stage of carved stone. The tools were made by percussion; that is to say, hitting the stones against each other, forming flakes or sheets, to then touch up the edges and achieve the desired effect.

The Neolithic period (or new Stone Age) is the stage of polished stone, as they made tools by polishing or rubbing the stone, thus achieving finer shapes (Braybury, 2017).

The Stone Age toolkit included the following:

1- The bifaces

They are recognized as the first prehistoric tools, typical of the Lower Paleolithic.

They were generally made of flint and were carved on both sides to achieve a triangular shape with a semicircular base. They were used to pierce, scrape or cut.

2- The burins

They were stone or lithic tools, with a sharp end and a rounded end for grip.

They were made using a technique called burin: when the stone is struck, flakes are formed that leave a polished piece.

They are mainly typical of the Upper Paleolithic. They were used to make bone and wood utensils, and to make incisions.

3- The hand axes

They are hand tools from the Lower and Middle Paleolithic. They made them by shaping stone with a hammer, also made of stone, to form sharp edges. The result was a pointed instrument, similar in shape to an arrowhead.

They were possibly used for daily activities such as chopping wood, digging holes, cutting meat, scraping leather, and for defense against wild animals (Kowlaski, 2016).

4- The spearheads

They were made of stones by percussion, a laborious but valuable work, because man discovered that if they were attached to a wooden pole with plant or animal fibers, they were a valuable tool to shorten the time they needed to hunt and gather..

The use of the spear increased the number of animals that could be hunted. They served for personal protection and could be used several times.

5- The clovis tips

They are prehistoric stone artifacts, typical of the Clovis (Native American) culture.

They are the most valuable of the spearheads. They were almost symmetrical, lanceolate in shape, with wide grooves on both sides, to easily connect to the wood. They could be used to hunt from a distance.

6- The knives

The first knives were made of stone by the percussion method. They were wide flakes.

They are characteristic of the Middle Palaeolithic. During the Paleolithic age, perhaps similar tools made of bone or wood were used, but because they were perishable, they were not preserved.

Knives were used for cutting and as a weapon to kill animals. Being pointed, they were more efficient at stabbing prey.

In contrast to today's knives, which have both a handle and a blade, Stone Age knives were a single solid piece (Johnson, 2017).

7- The scrapers

They were made of stone flakes. These prehistoric tools were teardrop-shaped with a polished, cutting edge. They appear in the Middle Palaeolithic but had more use during the Upper Palaeolithic.

They were used to extract fat and hair from animal skins, to separate meat from bone, and to polish wood and bone. It seems that their main purpose was to tan animal skins to make clothing and shelters.

8- The adzes

They were tools similar in shape to the ax, but with a sharp edge mainly on one side; they usually carried a handle.

They are typical of the Neolithic period. They were used for woodworking and agricultural tasks.

9- The perforators

They are prehistoric implements used in the Paleolithic. They were made so that one of its ends ended in a rounded point, like a needle, in order to fulfill its function as a punch.

They were used to make holes in all kinds of materials. Possibly they were also used as a chisel, hitting them with an object on the piece to be drilled.

10- The raederas

Lithic instruments that were manufactured using small flakes, which are retouched to give shape to the scraper, either with single or double edges. They appear during the Lower Paleolithic and survive until closer periods.

There are several types of scrapers: simple, straight, concave, biconvex, among others. Being sharp objects, they were used to cut or scrape. They were also used to tan hides, like the scraper.

They could be used to cut soft materials. They were special to treat the skin by removing hair and fat from them (Ander, 2017).

It is estimated that the Stone Age is the first period in which technology was developed, due to the initiative of man to make tools.

The human being will always have the need to elaborate utensils that facilitate their tasks. Since the origin of man, tools have been an essential part of his progress.

References

1. (2017). Historical Criticism. Obtained from What is a scraper ?: criticahistorica.com
2. Braybury, L. (April 25, 2017). Sciencing. Obtained from Tools Used in the Stone Age: sciencing.com
3. (June 6, 2016). History and Biographies. Obtained from historiaybiografias.com
4. Johnson, S. (April 24, 2017). Sciencing. Obtained from Stone Age Knives and Tools: sciencing.com
5. Kowlaski, J. (December 2016). Aerobiological Engineering. Obtained from Stone Age Hand-axes: aerobiologicalengineering.com