Palaeolithic stone tools
Our ancient ancestors left clues about their lives – not in written records, but in stone. Stone tools are important pieces of evidence archaeologists use to understand the evolution of humans.
Biozone stone tool technology timeline
Stone tool technologies are the methods used to manufacture and shape stone tools. The four primary techniques are percussion (direct and indirect), blade making, grinding and polishing, and shattering.
This 3D interactive model allows student to examine different tools in 3D.
This 3D model is part of a collection by: BIOZONE International.
The Palaeolithic
The Palaeolithic period, also known as the Old Stone Age, is the prehistoric period of human history distinguished by stone tool manufacture and use. It covers around 3.3 million years ago to 10,000 years ago. It is also the period of history when the early hominins like the genus Homo habilis gradually evolved to anatomically modern humans – Homo sapiens.
Neanderthal with tool
A museum reconstruction of a Neanderthal (Homo neanderthalensis) using a stone tool to skin a goat carcass.
Stone tools are incredibly durable, abundant and sometimes the only surviving traces of prehistoric cultures.
The study of stone tool technology (how they were made) and tool use can help us trace the development of human anatomy, thinking and behaviour over millions of years. We can also infer ideas about how prehistoric cultures lived and thought.
Analyses of stone tools help build an understanding of our hominin ancestors and early humans. For example, Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) were once thought of as unintelligent. However, we now know they had large brains, made and used tools, created decorative items and art (suggesting symbolic thought) and even mixed materials to make a form of glue!
But how can archaeologists tell the difference between a deliberately made stone tool and a naturally sharp or tool-shaped rock?
Lithic analysis
‘Lithos’ is the Greek word for stone – the Palaeolithic is a period both named and defined by the development of tool-making technology and the use of stone tools. Lithic analysis is a branch of archaeology that looks at stone tools and the fragments or flakes produced during their manufacture.
Morphological attributes of stone knapping
This diagram shows some of the morphological attributes archaeologists look for to determine if a stone has been made using a knapping technique.
By examining the shape of artifacts, the type of stone used and microscopic wear on the edges, researchers can work out if the stone is a manufactured tool or a naturally shaped rock. They look for a combination of physical features and patterns:
Flake scars – repeated, organised marks where pieces have been deliberately struck off, often in a consistent direction.
Bulb of percussion – a small, rounded bump on a flake where force was applied, like a ripple mark from the impact.
Striking platform – a flat area where the tool maker hit the stone.
Sharp, shaped edges – ridges that have been deliberately formed through breaking or grinding and polishing.
Use wear – tiny scratches, polish or edge damage showing the tool was used for tasks like cutting or scraping.
Material choice – different technologies to make tools meant tool makers selected stones that break or fracture in predictable ways.
Context – finding many similar pieces together, along with flakes and cores (the main pieces of stone from which flakes are struck), suggests a tool-making site rather than natural breakage.
While natural processes can sometimes break rocks in similar ways, it’s usually a combination of these clues that shows human involvement.
Other artefacts, like fossils, can help with context for dating. This is called relative dating.
Radiocarbon dating, a form of absolute dating, can be used to date organic matter (charcoal, seeds, bone and wood) found near stone tools. However, it has a limit of 50,000–60,000 years ago, so it can only be used for the late stage of the Palaeolithic era.
Conchoidal fracture and rock cleavage
Fracture and cleavage are terms geologists use for how rocks break. Rock cleavage is when a rock splits along flat, smooth surfaces that are parallel to zones of weak bonding in the crystal structure.
Conchoidal fracture is when a rock breaks with curved, shell-like surfaces instead of flat ones, like broken glass. These fractures are not along any particular planes of weakness and appear more random.
The top image is an example of rock cleavage in sandstone and the bottom two images show conchoidal fracturing of obsidian (left) and flint (right).
Sandstone, Dr Mary Gillham Archive Project, CC BY 2.0; obsidian, Ji-Elle , CC BY-SA 3.0; and flint, Public Domain.
What were stone tools used for?
We cannot be 100% sure what ancient stone tools from the Palaeolithic were used for as we cannot observe the tools in use, but scientific methods can provide high-confidence, evidence-based conclusions.
Some common uses for tools:
Butchering and hunting – handaxes, cleavers and sharp flakes were used to cut meat, crack bones for marrow and process animal carcasses.
Hide processing – scrapers were used to clean and prepare animal hides for clothing or shelter.
Woodworking – tools like adzes, chisels (burins) and choppers were used for cutting and shaping wood.
Weaponry – specialised tools included spear points, darts and, later in the period, bows and arrows for hunting.
Food processing – hammerstones and grinding stones were used to process plant materials such as crushing nuts or grinding tubers.
Crafting – burins were used to carve bone, antler and ivory to make things like harpoons or needles.
Multiple views of an Aurignacian burin
This flint burin dated to 29,000 to 22,000 years ago was found at Brassempouy in France.
The sophisticated mammoth ivory carving Venus of Brassempouy is a likely made with burin tools.
There are several methods to determine the function of different stone tools:
Use-wear analysis – examining the small scratches, polish and edge damage on tool surfaces to see how the tool was shaped or how it might have been used.
Experimental archaeology – researchers make replicas of ancient tools using the same materials and techniques and test them for cutting, scraping or pounding. They compare the results with the markings on the original tool or other artefacts like bones that were found close by.
Residue analysis – scientists study tiny traces left on stone tools like bits of blood, plant fibres or starch. By identifying these remains, archaeologists can learn what materials were being worked with and what the users were eating or making. One study discovered an ochre-type residue that was used as a glue to create more complex tools.
Contextual clues – experts look at the surroundings where the tool was found. For example, they look at other artefacts found nearby, the location within the landscape or layers of soil. The context can suggest the possible use of the tool.
By utilising some or all of the methods above, archaeologists can figure out whether tools were used for hunting, food preparation or other daily activities. By matching similar tools and tool-making technologies, we can also learn about settlement patterns, group behaviour and trade routes based on local material culture, technology and historical events (like ice ages). Different events and technologies occurred at different times in different regions, so the stages of development (or 'Industries') often have different names for the time period and region where they occurred.
Beyond the Palaeolithic
Stone tool technology continued to develop in the Neolithic era (New Stone Age). More ground tools began to appear. These tools were made by grinding or rubbing and included tools for crafts, farming and food processing. The Neolithic era was followed by the Bronze Age, when metal technologies emerged. This was also the time when humans moved from hunting and gathering to built-up settlements and farming.
Acheulian bifacial hand axe
A Lower Palaeolithic 500,000 to 40,000 BC hand axe knapped from dark grey flint.
Homo erectus is credited with first using this technology, which was later used by Neanderthals.
Learn more about some of the different periods (known as ‘industries’) in Prehistoric stone tool technology.
Stone tool making is a historic tradition that has been retained by many cultures beyond the Palaeolithic period. Stone tools dating back to 1300AD have been found in New Zealand. Early Māori made tools and decorative items from basalt or other hard rock like adzite (a metamorphic rock) and sedimentary rocks like chert or greywacke and pounamu.
Some carvers in Aotearoa continue this tool-making tradition for their whakairo today.
Nature of science in the curriculum
Stone tools are artefacts. Experts use observable data such as physical features and contextual clues to make inferences or logical interpretations about the tools, their uses and when and how they were used. Learning about stone tools enables students to evaluate how data and representations support scientific claims and use this information to discuss/justify conclusions.
Related content
Take a closer look at human evolution in Becoming human – hominins.
Evolutionary research – advancing our understanding of us and Palaeogenomics and human evolution unpack some of the growing technologies scientists and archaeologists are using to better understand human evolution.
Obsidian is a volcanic rock. Watch this video to learn about volcanic rock types in New Zealand.
Fossil correlation is an activity to help students understand how the age of fossils in one rock can be obtained using dates from fossils in a different place and that most fossil artefacts (and also stone tools) can only be dated to a time range, not a precise date.
Dating the past is a suite of resources that look at the geologic timescale and how geologists date fossils and rock.
Lapita cultural complex looks at how archaeologists and other experts use material culture – like pottery – to better understand our ancestors. The activity Exploring Lapita pottery through observation and art is a cross-curricular activity that uses Lapita pottery as the context for enhancing scientific observation by recreating old artefact designs.
Useful links
Read more about the Lomekwian industry – the oldest known stone tools unearthed in Kenya – and how experts have sought to identify the human ancestors that made them.
African Fossils has an image gallery of ancient stone tools that can be manipulated and viewed in 3D.
This resource on the Levallois technique has a useful 3D animation of the process that was used in the Mousterian industry.
Research shows that Homo neanderthalensis used birch tar and other compounds to make an adhesive. Read more in Neanderthal ‘glue’ points to complex thinking.
Cherokee Noel Grayson explains the ancient tradition of making stone tools and arrowheads in this video on flint knapping.
Learn about some of the different stone types that were used for used with the knapping technique.
Explore how early Māori used stone: Kōhatu – Māori use of stone.
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