{"id":59643,"date":"2025-10-26T11:43:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T16:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/?p=59643"},"modified":"2025-10-27T06:58:49","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T11:58:49","slug":"stone-age-tools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/?p=59643","title":{"rendered":"Stone Age Tools"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I vaguely recall, as a kid, being taken to museums where there would be rooms with tray after tray of arrowheads, and praying, “Dear God, I don’t want to ever be in a state where I find these things interesting.” Man prays and God laughs.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ducks often brightened the museum experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While doing what passes as “research”[1]<\/sup> for a recent blott, it turns out that the stone age is pretty fascinating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s go back, way back, and explore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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First Things First – What is a Stone?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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In geology, a rock (or stone<\/strong>) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks form the Earth’s outer solid layer, the crust, and most of its interior, except for the liquid outer core and pockets of magma in the asthenosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Scientists Studying Stones<\/em>
Photo by Elder G<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWikipedia<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
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[1]<\/sup> “Research” and “News”<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We’ve issued a corporate directive that the word Research<\/strong> must always be enclosed in quotes. We hope to avoid any liability, much like Faux “News” is officially, legally entertainment. Bastards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our lawyers assure us that a question mark is also acceptable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But We Digress….<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We were not the First<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Stone tools have been used throughout human history but are most closely associated with prehistoric cultures and in particular those of the Stone Age. Stone tools may be made of either ground stone or knapped stone, the latter fashioned by a craftsman called a flintknapper. Stone has been used to make a wide variety of tools throughout history, including arrowheads, spearheads, hand axes, and querns. Knapped stone tools are nearly ubiquitous in pre-metal-using societies because they are easily manufactured, the tool stone raw material is usually plentiful, and they are easy to transport and sharpen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kenya
<\/strong>Stone tools found from 2011 to 2014 at the Lomekwi archeology site near Lake Turkana in Kenya, are dated to be 3.3 million years old<\/em><\/strong>, and predate the genus Homo by about one million years.[…] The stone tools may have been made by Australopithecus afarensis.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nWikipedia<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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How was the Tool Lost?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Let’s talk about our mysterious Australopithecus afarensis<\/strong><\/em>. <\/strong><\/em>We’ll call him Mr. AA for short. I think that we can safely assume that his kids were messing around with his tools. “Where is your mother?” we hear Mr. AA yell!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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