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Did you know?
The history of tools is widely accepted to date back approximately 2.6 million years ago! Humans have come a long way with it’s current technology compared to millions of years ago. While this site is concentrated on bringing you awesome tools you can actually buy, we thought it would be cool to go back and look up the history of the first tools.
Oldowan Tool
This simple tool was the beginning of the technological revolution. While crude from today’s standards, these tools gave a tremendous evolutional advantage to our ancestors. Manufacturing of these tools gave the ancestors access to new ways of producing meat and materials for building.
Where was the tool found?
Most places of discovery are located in Africa, especially the eastern part of the continent. Apart from Tanzania and Ethiopia, paleoanthropologists have found Oldowan tools in Kenya and Chad. The north part of Africa, Algeria and Egypt brought forth the most discoveries. On the continental area of Eurasia, the most famous Oldowan site is Dmansi in Georgia. At the turn of the millennium, scientists discovered early human fossils alongside hundreds of Oldowan tools and animal bones. The importance of these findings can not be stressed enough, as Dmansi, alongside Shengchen in China, is the earliest known evidence of human presence outside of Africa. Further excavation sites are known in Spain, France, Pakistan, Syria, Iran, and Israel.
How did they manufacture them?
Fissile rocks like volcanic and quartzites were laid upon a stable surface and struck by a hammerstone. Given the correct angle and force, the hammer rock would break away forming a thin sharp stone flake.
The sharp stone flakes were then used for hunting and cutting meats. Also, the tool aided in cutting plants and helped the early ancestors perform basic wood working.
More about today’s technology…
Take a look at our other posts to learn more about tools that you can use today!
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Very interesting article about history of tools!