9 PALEOLITHIC tools

The main Paleolithic tools are bifaces, scrapers, knives, spearheads, burins, hammers... In a Teacher we tell you in this summary for children.

One of the most relevant elements of the Stone Age They were the tools, which made humanity prosper, and they help us to see how the inventive capacity of human beings evolved. The first tools were very primitive, but they served as the basis for all the ones that came. later, and to know these first tools in this lesson of a Teacher we must talk about the Paleolithic tools.

Before enumerating the tools of the Paleolithic, we are going to frame this historical period. He PaleolithicIt was a prehistoric period that spanned approximately from 2.5 million years ago until about 12,000 years ago. This enormous period of time was framed in the well-known Stone age, being a period in which human beings depending on the tools made of stone they maintained a hunter-gatherer life centered on a nomadic life in which they did not stop changing habitats.

We must bear in mind that the Paleolithic is the longest historical period in the entire history of humanity, causing the evolution that took place during this stage to be enormous. To our eyes it may seem that they evolved slowly, but the reality is that they were able to do

Undoubtedly, the greatest importance of the Paleolithic was the creation of tools made of stone, being the characteristic element of this entire period, and serving as the basis for the improvement of tools that would be seen in later periods. In the manufacture of tools, the discovery of flint, being a type of stone very easy to polish, and which facilitated the creation of tools.

When talking about tools we must understand that not all of them were part of the complete Paleolithic, since being a such a long period, it is normal for some tools to appear later, or other older ones to disappear over the years. centuries. That is why the Paleolithic is one of the periods with the greatest number of tools in all of Prehistory.

To continue with this lesson from a Professor on Paleolithic tools we must talk about the main stone tools made by humans during this period, analyzing what each one was like to better understand its use.

The main Paleolithic tools were the following:

• Bifaces: The bifaces are a stone tool in the shape of a triangle and the size of a hand that is characterized by having two sharp edges at its ends. These tools are very complete, serving for all kinds of activities, both defense and manufacturing, and being used to cut, scrape and cut. They are considered the first tools used by humans.
• scrapers: Scrapers were sharp tools used to scrape away the meat and skin of animals. hunted animals, being therefore the main tools of the group of hunters of any community. The scrapers were also used to make clothes, the tools being capable of tearing off the skin of animals.
• Knives: In the Paleolithic, knives made of flint were made, being sharp and small tools. These tools were used to cut skins or wood for various activities, initially these tools did not have handle, but over the centuries they were improved and we can find the first knives with handles in the last years of the Paleolithic.
• The spearhead: Stone spearheads were tools designed for hunting. The points were sharp and were placed at the end of wooden handles to form spears, being one of the main weapons of the period. The use of spears was especially because they were one of the few weapons that were capable of piercing the tough skin of the huge animals that inhabited the prehistoric world, since we must understand that most of the prey of human beings were animals very big.
• The burins: The burins are a kind of flakes used to work the bone, since it was considered that its shape was perfect for this purpose. It must be understood that working with bone was common at this time, since together with stone and wood they were the easiest elements to manipulate to achieve the objectives.
• The firing pins: The hammers were tools used to hit and flint or other stones, to be able to make other more specialized tools. They really were very similar to other tools of the time, possibly for the reason why they were effective for transforming tools.
• the hand ax: The hatchet was an essential tool for Paleolithic hunters. Axes were used to chop wood, build shelters, and butcher meat for food. The hand ax was more akin to agricultural tools than to the fighting axes we know today.
• The punches: The awls are sharp stone tools with a powerful point that were used to pierce hard materials such as leather and wood, serving especially for decorative elements. Unlike the current ones, most of them did not have a handle, being only the tip of the punch that allowed certain elements to be pierced.
• Scrapers: A kind of large stone with several spaces, which is said to have been used to sharpen other tools, being common that some tools had the sole task of improving others tools. It is one of the most characteristic tools of the Paleolithic, since with the passing of the new ages they disappeared when they were replaced by others.