Everything about Stone Tool totally explained
A
stone tool is, in the most general sense, any
tool made of
stone. Although stone-tool-dependent
cultures exist even today, most stone tools are associated with
prehistoric societies that no longer exist.
The study of stone tools is often called
lithic analysis by archaeologists. Stone tools may be made of
chipped stone or
ground stone. A person who makes chipped stone implements is called a
flintknapper. In addition to tools, many minerals were used to make
arrow heads and spear points.
Chipped stone tools are made from
cryptocrystalline materials such as
chert,
radiolarite,
chalcedony,
basalt,
quartzite and
obsidian via a process known as
lithic reduction. One simple form of reduction is to strike stone
flakes from a nucleus (core) of material using a
hammerstone or similar hard hammer fabricator. If the goal of the reduction strategy is to produce flakes, the remnant
lithic core may be discarded once it has become too small to use. In some strategies, however, a
flintknapper reduces the core to a rough
unifacial or
bifacial preform, which is further reduced using
soft hammer flaking techniques or by
pressure flaking the edges. More complex forms of reduction include the production of highly standardized blades, which can then be fashioned into a variety of tools such as
scrapers,
knives,
sickles and
microliths. In general terms, chipped stone tools are nearly ubiquitous in all pre-metal-using societies because they're easily manufactured, the
tool stone is usually plentiful, and they're easy to transport and sharpen.
Paleolithic tools
Prehistoric stone-working techniques of the
Palaeolithic are divided into four 'Modes',
The Mode 1 industries (
Oldowan,
Clactonian) created rough
flake tools by hitting a suitable stone with a
hammerstone. The resulting flake would have a natural sharp edge for cutting and could afterwards be sharpened further by striking another smaller flake from the edge if necessary (known as
retouch). These early toolmakers may also have worked the stone they took the flake from (known as a
core) to create
chopper cores although there's some debate over whether these items were tools or just discarded cores .
The Mode 2 (eg
Acheulean) toolmakers also used the Mode 1 flake tool method but supplemented it by also using wood or bone implements to
pressure flake fragments away from stone cores to create the first true hand-axes. The use of a soft hammer made from wood or bone also resulted in more control over the shape of the finished tool. Unlike the earlier Mode 1 industries, the core was prized over the flakes that came from it. Another advance was that the Mode 2 tools were worked symmetrically and on both sides indicating greater care in the production of the final tool.
Mode 3 technology emerged towards the end of Acheulean dominance and involved the
Levallois technique. It is commonly associated with
Neanderthal Mousterian industry. The long
blades of the
Upper Palaeolithic Mode 4 industries appeared during the
Upper Palaeolithic.
Polished stone tools
Ground stone tools became important during the
Neolithic period. These ground or polished implements are manufactured from larger-grained materials such as
basalt,
greenstone and some forms of
rhyolite which are not suitable for flaking. The greenstone industry was important in the
English Lake District, and is known as the
Langdale axe industry. Ground stone implements included
adzes,
celts, and
axes, which were manufactured using a labour-intensive, time-consuming method of repeated grinding against an abrasive stone, often using
water as a lubricant. Because of their coarse surfaces, some ground stone tools were used for grinding plant foods and were polished not just by intentional shaping, but also by use.
Manos are hand stones used in conjunction with
metates for grinding corn or grain. Polishing increased the intrinsic
mechanical strength of the axe. Polished stone axes were important for the widespread clearance of woods and forest during the Neolithic period, when crop and livestock farming developed on a large scale.
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