Rocks As Tools

Combat

• During the Stone Age, early humans discovered that certain rocks easily could be fashioned into sharp points and edges. This allowed men to create more advanced weapons than had been previously built. A sharp point could be made out of flint or obsidian. Originally, large points were affixed to wooden shafts to create spears for hunting and combat. Stone arrowheads also appeared. These stone tools provided men with increased ability to hunt game.

Cutting Tools

• Rock tools were used for cutting a variety of other harder substances. For instance, when early people wanted to work with substances like antlers from animals or wood they needed a tool hard enough to cut through that material. Other rocks would be shaped into a sharp point to be used as a scraper or chisel.

Hammers

• Hammers were one of the most important tools of the early stone-tool using people because hammers gave craftsmen the tools that they needed to craft other, more complex tools. Stone hammers were made from heavy and dense rock and used to strike more brittle varieties of stone. "Percussive flaking" is the name given to this technique, because the craftsman flaked away the pieces of rock that they didn't want until the stone took the shape of the tool they were trying to build.

Polished Stone Axes

• The development of the polished stone axe signified a step forward in the tool making abilities of prehistoric man. The invention of this tool also helped contribute to the growth of agriculture. These axes were in use during the Neolithic period. They gave men the ability to clear large amounts of trees from the land. This led to the building of more permanent settlements and the clearing of land that previously had been covered in trees.