Science Learning Hub logo
TopicsConceptsCitizen scienceTeacher PLDGlossary
Sign in
Image

Oldowan chopping tool

Stone tool with jagged top and rounded bottom – looks like a rock.

This basalt tool was excavated from Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, Africa. The museum curator notes that “the cobble may have been used as a source of flakes for use in light duty tasks or as a chopping tool or both”.

From the Field Collection of Dr Louis S B Leakey

Rights: The Trustees of the British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 
Published: 17 June 2026Size: 635.31 KB
Referencing Hub media

Explore related content

Appears inRelated resources
Two images of a Rönneholm arrow with microlith barbs.

Article

Prehistoric stone tool technology

Our ancient ancestors developed stone tool technology across hundreds of years. Stone tools are important evidence that helps us understand the physical and cultural evolution of ...

Read more
Seven stone tools that show a progression in early human technology.

Article

Palaeolithic stone tools

Our ancient ancestors left clues about their lives – not in written records, but in stone. Stone tools are important evidence that helps us understand the ...

Read more
Evolutionary research – advancing our understanding of us

Article

Evolutionary research – advancing our understanding of us

New technologies can extend our scientific understanding. They can also mean we have to throw out earlier ideas.

Read more
Two images of a Rönneholm arrow with microlith barbs.

Article

Prehistoric stone tool technology

Our ancient ancestors developed stone tool technology across hundreds of years. Stone tools are important evidence that helps us understand the physical and cultural evolution of ...

Read more

See our newsletters here.

NewsEventsAboutContact usPrivacyCopyrightHelp

The Science Learning Hub Pokapū Akoranga Pūtaiao is funded through the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's Science in Society Initiative.

Science Learning Hub Pokapū Akoranga Pūtaiao © 2007-2026 The University of Waikato Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato