Stone tool

**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

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

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.

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.

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

## Later styles

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

### Oldowan

_See the main article: Oldowan_

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

Archaeologists do not know for sure which species actually invented Oldowan tools. They may have been invented by australopithecines or _Homo habilis_. These tools were most commonly used by early species of _Homo**',_ such as _H. habilis, H. erectus,_ and _H. ergaster_. They may have also been used by _Homo rudolfensis_, _Paranthropus boisei_, and/or _Paranthropus robustus_.

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. They allowed humans to access new kinds of food, like bone marrow, and make things out of wood.

### Acheulean

_See the main article: Acheulean_

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. Humans continued to use Acheulean tools until around 200,000 years ago.

The classic type of Acheulean tool is an oval-shaped or pear-shaped hand axe. 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. This suggests that _H. erectus_ used both styles of tools for a period of time.

### **Mousterian_'

_See the main article: Mousterian''

The Mousterian tool culture lasted from around 160,000 BC to 40,000 BC. 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. 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. In North Africa and the Near East, early modern humans made Mousterian tools.

## Related pages

- Palaeolithic
- Hand axe
- Levallois technique