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Stone tool

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stone tools found at a United States National Park

Stone tools are tools made of stone. The oldest stone tools were created by non-human hominids before the genus Homo evolved. Once human species evolved, all of them (including Homo habilis and Homo erectus) used stone tools.

Since stone tools were the first ever used by mankind, the Stone Age was named after them.

The oldest stone tools

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The oldest tools ever found come from the shores of Lake Turkana in Kenya. The paleoenvironment in that area was wooded.[1]

The tools are around 3.3 million years old, according to scientists who dated them based on volcanic ash and minerals around the tools. They are 700,000 years older than any tools found before.[2]

Non-human hominids used stone tools before the genus Homo evolved. Members of species like Australopithecus afarensis or Kenyanthropus platyops may have made the Lake Turkana tools.[source?]

The research team has proposed the term "Lomekwian" for these tools, and says they mark the start of archaeology.

Later styles

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Gradually, over millions of years, humans became better and better at making stone tools.

An Oldowan style chopper

See the main article: Oldowan

Ancient hominids made Oldowan tools starting about 2.9 million years ago[3][4] and ending around 1.4 million years ago[5]. To make these tools, they pounded a flint stone with a hard hammer stone to split off a flake.[4][5] This flake became the tool. Its sharp edges made it useful for cutting, chopping, and scraping.[4]

Archaeologists do not know for sure which species actually invented Oldowan tools. They may have been invented by australopithecines or Homo habilis.[6] These tools were most commonly used by early species of Homo[7], such as H. habilis, H. erectus, and H. ergaster. They may have also been used by Homo rudolfensis, Paranthropus boisei, and/or Paranthropus robustus.[6]

Oldowan tools seem very simple today, but they were very important in early human history. They gave early humans an evolutionary advantage: they helped them survive as successful species for long periods of time.[8] They allowed humans to access new kinds of food, like bone marrow, and make things out of wood.[8]

Acheulean

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See the main article: Acheulean

Acheulean tools in a Russian museum

Acheulean tools were the dominant technology for most of human history. The oldest Acheulean artifact ever found has been dated to around 1.95 million years ago.[9] Humans continued to use Acheulean tools until around 200,000 years ago.[10]

The classic type of Acheulean tool is an oval-shaped or pear-shaped hand axe.[11] These hand axes had many uses, including hunting, butchering, and breaking open bones to access bone marrow.

Scientists think that early Homo erectus inherited Oldowan technology, then refined it into the Acheulean industry beginning about 1.7 million years ago. Archaeologists have found both Oldowan and Acheulian artifacts with H. erectus crania at two sites in Gona, Ethiopia.[12] This suggests that H. erectus used both styles of tools for a period of time.[12]

A Mousterian point

Mousterian

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See the main article: Mousterian

The Mousterian tool culture lasted from around 160,000 BC to 40,000 BC.[13][14] Mousterian tools were made by Neanderthals in Europe, as well as early modern humans in North Africa, the Middle East, and West Asia. They used flint stones and created specialized tools like hand axes, points, and spearheads.[15] They often used the Levallois technique to accomplish this.

Neanderthals in Europe made a style of tools that scientists call the European Mousterian. It existed from around 160,000 BC to 40,000 BC.[16] In North Africa and the Near East, early modern humans made Mousterian tools.[17]

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References

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  1. ↑ Harmand, Sonia et al 2015. 3.3-million-year-old stone tools from Lomekwi 3, West Turkana, Kenya. Nature 521, 310–315.
  2. ↑ Morelle, Rebecca 2015. Oldest stone tools pre-date earliest humans. BBC News Science & Environment.
  3. ↑ "Oldowan and Acheulean Stone Tools | Museum of Anthropology - Museum of Anthropology". anthromuseum.missouri.edu. Retrieved 2025-12-15.
  4. 1 2 3 "2.9-Million-Year-Old Butchery Site Reopens Case of Who Made First Stone Tools". www.si.edu. Retrieved 2025-12-05.
  5. 1 2 Foundation, Bradshaw. "Stone Tools in the Fossil Record". Bradshaw Foundation. Retrieved 2025-12-05.
  6. 1 2 Foundation, Bradshaw. "Stone Tools in the Fossil Record". Bradshaw Foundation. Retrieved 2025-12-05.
  7. ↑ Semaw, Sileshi; Rogers, Michael J.; Simpson, Scott W.; Levin, Naomi E.; Quade, Jay; Dunbar, Nelia; McIntosh, William C.; Cáceres, Isabel; Stinchcomb, Gary E.; Holloway, Ralph L.; Brown, Francis H. (March 2020). "Co-occurrence of Acheulian and Oldowan artifacts with Homo erectus cranial fossils from Gona, Afar, Ethiopia". Science Advances. 6 (10): eaaw4694. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaw4694. ISSN 2375-2548. PMC 7056306. PMID 32181331.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: article number as page number (link)
  8. 1 2 Rotheimer, Ralf (2020-07-13). "Oldowan Tools". World History Encyclopedia.
  9. ↑ Mussi, Margherita; Skinner, Matthew M.; Melis, Rita T.; Panera, Joaquín; Rubio-Jara, Susana; Davies, Thomas W.; Geraads, Denis; Bocherens, Hervé; Briatico, Giuseppe; Le Cabec, Adeline; Hublin, Jean-Jacques (2023-11-10). "Early Homo erectus lived at high altitudes and produced both Oldowan and Acheulean tools". Science. 382 (6671): 713–718. doi:10.1126/science.add9115.
  10. ↑ "Acheulean industry | Tools, Timeline, Culture, & Facts | Britannica". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2025-12-05.
  11. ↑ "Acheulean Industry". Museum of Stone Tools. Retrieved 2025-12-06.
  12. 1 2 Semaw, Sileshi; Rogers, Michael J.; Simpson, Scott W.; Levin, Naomi E.; Quade, Jay; Dunbar, Nelia; McIntosh, William C.; Cáceres, Isabel; Stinchcomb, Gary E.; Holloway, Ralph L.; Brown, Francis H. (March 2020). "Co-occurrence of Acheulian and Oldowan artifacts with Homo erectus cranial fossils from Gona, Afar, Ethiopia". Science Advances. 6 (10): eaaw4694. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaw4694. ISSN 2375-2548. PMC 7056306. PMID 32181331.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: article number as page number (link)
  13. ↑ Richter, Daniel; Grün, Rainer; Joannes-Boyau, Renaud; Steele, Teresa E.; Amani, Fethi; Rué, Mathieu; Fernandes, Paul; Raynal, Jean-Paul; Geraads, Denis (2017-06-07). "The age of the hominin fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, and the origins of the Middle Stone Age". Nature. 546 (7657): 293–296. Bibcode:2017Natur.546..293R. doi:10.1038/nature22335. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 28593967. S2CID 205255853.
  14. ↑ Lepre, Christopher J.; Roche, Hélène; Kent, Dennis V.; Harmand, Sonia; Quinn, Rhonda L.; Brugal, Jean-Philippe; Texier, Pierre-Jean; Lenoble, Arnaud; Feibel, Craig S. (September 2011). "An earlier origin for the Acheulian". Nature. 477 (7362): 82–85. Bibcode:2011Natur.477...82L. doi:10.1038/nature10372. PMID 21886161. S2CID 4419567.
  15. ↑ Aldenderfer, Mark; Andrea, Alfred J.; McGeough, Kevin; Mierse, William E.; Neel, Carolyn (29 April 2010). World History Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 330. ISBN 978-1-85109-929-0. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
  16. ↑ Lepre, Christopher J.; Roche, Hélène; Kent, Dennis V.; Harmand, Sonia; Quinn, Rhonda L.; Brugal, Jean-Philippe; Texier, Pierre-Jean; Lenoble, Arnaud; Feibel, Craig S. (September 2011). "An earlier origin for the Acheulian". Nature. 477 (7362): 82–85. Bibcode:2011Natur.477...82L. doi:10.1038/nature10372. PMID 21886161. S2CID 4419567.
  17. ↑ Lepre, Christopher J.; Roche, Hélène; Kent, Dennis V.; Harmand, Sonia; Quinn, Rhonda L.; Brugal, Jean-Philippe; Texier, Pierre-Jean; Lenoble, Arnaud; Feibel, Craig S. (September 2011). "An earlier origin for the Acheulian". Nature. 477 (7362): 82–85. Bibcode:2011Natur.477...82L. doi:10.1038/nature10372. PMID 21886161. S2CID 4419567.


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