Grinding: The flaked or pecked flake or core is later grounded on a stone slab to Tool Families get the required shape and size with the production of a working edge. Polishing: The axes so prepared are now having a more or less smooth and regular surface. These are now rubbed on hard granite stone with sand and water thrown in from time to time. The result of this action creates on axe which, unless told, can be mistaken as a metal axe. It is so shining. Usually all axes are biconvex in cross-section. These are, however, some which are plano-convex in cross section. These are believed to be used for chiseling. These are called ‘Adzes’. Some Adzes have an elongated body and a slightly narrowed anterior end. These are called ‘Shoe-last celts’, on the assumption that these were probably hafted as a shoe to the primitive ploughs. Finally another type that emerges with this technique is called a ‘Ring Stone’. There are flat round stones in the centre of which a hole is made using a spindle with hard quartz as the tip. The extremely varied size and shape of these ring stones make it very difficult to comment on their probable function. The general view is that the massive ones were probably used as mace head for pounding crops, while the small ones were probably used as net sinkers in nets used for fishing. 2.6 SUMMARY In the journey of human evolution if we will see and analyse the past then we can say our ancestors have spent 90% of their life in Stone Age. This lesson basically dealt with the how prehistoric man survived with these simple stone tools. This unit also dealt with cognition of prehistoric mind. Suggested Reading Bhattacharya, D.K. 1979. Old Stone Age Tools. A manual of laboratory techniques of analysis. Calcutta: K.P. Bagchi and Company. Inizan, M.L, Ballinger, M.R, Roche, H and Tixier, J. 1979. Technology and Terminology Knapped Stone. Nanterre: CREP. Oakley, K.P. 1972. Man the Tool Maker. London: Trustees of the British museum natural history. Sankalia, H.D. 1962. Stone Age Tools. Their Techniques, Names and Probable Functions. Poona: Deccan College. Sample Questions 1) Discuss the tool types and techniques of Lower, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic Culture. 2) Discuss the tool types and techniques of Mesolithic and Neolithic Culture. 3) What is Blade tool? 35 Archaeological Units UNIT 3 TOOL TECHNOLOGIES Contents 3.1 Introduction 3.1.1 The Earliest Tools 3.2 Raw Materials 3.2.1 Perishable Materials 3.2.2 Non-perishable Materials 3.3 Fracture Mechanics of Stone 3.4 Some Terminological Understanding 3.5 Basic Stone Tool Making Techniques 3.5.1 Percussion Technique 3.5.1.1 Anvil Technique 3.5.1.2 Bipolar Technique 3.5.1.3 Stone Hammer Technique 3.5.1.4 Cylinder Hammer Technique 3.5.1.5 Indirect Percussion or Punch Technique 3.6 Pressure Flaking 3.7 Grinding and Polishing 3.8 Basic Flake Tool Making Techniques 3.8.1 Clactonian Technique 3.8.2 Levalloisian Technique 3.8.3 Mousterian Technique 3..8.4 Retouching and Blunting 3.9 Summary Suggested Reading Sample Questions Learning Objectives & Once you have studied this unit, you should be able to: Ø understand what is raw material; Ø learn tool tradition; and Ø discuss various stone tool making techniques. 3.1 INTRODUCTION Although prehistorians and archaeologists are sure that the early man initially used some kind of natural tools made of perishable materials, the emergence of a stone tool technology during the course of hominid evolution marks a radical behavioural departure from the rest of the animal world and constitutes the first definitive evidence in the prehistoric record of a simple lithic cultural tradition (i.e., one based upon learning). Although other animals (such as the Egyptian vulture, the California sea otter, and C. Darwin’s Galapagos finch) may use simple unmodified tools, or even manufacture and use simple tools (as in the termiting 36 and nut-cracking behaviour of wild chimpanzees), a fundamental aspect of human adaptation is a strong reliance upon technology for survival and adaptation. Tool Technologies Archaeological evidence shows a geometric increase in the sophistication and complexity of hominid stone technology over time since its earliest beginnings at 3–2Ma. Stone is the principal raw material found in nature. It is very hard and at the same time is suitable to produce effective working edges when fractured into pieces. A wide range of tasks can be executed with a piece of well fractured stone those include animal butchery (hide slitting, disarticulation, meat cutting, bone breaking), woodworking (chopping, scraping, sawing), hide scraping, plant cutting, and bone and antler working. Although other perishable materials, such as wood and bamboo including other raw materials susceptible to decay like bone, horn, and shell, were probably used early in the evolution of hominid technology. Tools made of stone are relatively indestructible and so provide the longest and most detailed record of prehistoric tool manufacture. Therefore stone tools supplemented biological loss like loss of sharp canines and claws as a means of adaptation to the environment during the course of human evolution, and the study of their manufacture and potential uses reveals important information about the evolution of human culture that was substantiated with the two free hands with opposable thumbs, erect posture together with a high brain capacity. 3.1.1 The Earliest Tools The earliest archaeological sites bearing definite flaked-stone artifacts (Oldowan or Omo industry) include those found in Member from the Omo Valley (Ethiopia), dated to ca. 2.4Ma, the archaeological sites from the Gona region of Hadar (Ethiopia) at 2.5–2.6Ma, the sites at Lokalalei (Kenya) at 2.34Ma and possibly Senga-5 (Zaire), between 2.3 and 2Ma. Other sites believed to be at least 1.5 Myr include those in Member E at Omo; Koobi Fora (Kenya) in and above the KBS Tuff at Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania) Beds I and II; and Peninj, west of Lake Natron (Tanzania). The stone artifacts from the South African caves of Swartkrans and Sterkfontein (Member 5) may be put in the same time range as well. 3.2 RAW MATERIALS It was quite obvious that early man after the loss of the power of canine and claw, was certainly having a kind of habit to pick some natural objects of perishable and non-perishable materials to defend him and in search of his food. It is true that tools from perishable raw materials do not survive in archaeological ruins but one can substantiate the use of such objects rather a tool from ethnographic sources. Therefore when raw materials of prehistoric tools are concerned, it classified into ‘perishable’ and ‘non-perishable’ objects. 3.2.1 Perishable Materials Perishable materials comprise materials like wood, bamboo and different parts of animal bones. 3.2.2 Non-perishable Materials The typical rock from which artifacts are produced are relatively fine grained hard igneous rocks suitable to fracture easily in any direction (i.e., they are isotropic). 37 Archaeological Units Commonly used rock types are flint or chert, quartzite, quartz, agate, chalcedony, jasper and various other igneous rocks, including obsidian (volcanic glass). Some materials namely flint or chert, can be more easily worked after heat treatment (a controlled heating that alters crystal structure), a practice that may have begun in Late Paleolithic times. The different types of raw materials vary widely in their overall spatial distributions and in time in terms of size, shape, quantity, and quality. They may be found in primary geological context, that is, at their site of origin or formation, such as a lava flow, quartz vein, quartzite layer, or flint nodule seam, or they may be in secondary (redeposited) context, such as cobbles in river gravels or rocks forming the pavement of desert surfaces. Both the cultural rules regarding artifact design and the intended use of a tool influence the tool types those are found in the prehistoric record. Cultural norms and functional requirements in addition to size, shape, quality, and flaking characteristics of the stone material also can strongly affect the kind of artifact. More sophisticated, delicately flaked artifacts can generally be made in fine- grained materials like high-quality flint and chert than are usually made in coarse- grained rocks. The relative abundance or scarcity of stone suitable for flaking affects the qualities, quantities and sizes of artifacts. For this reason the artifacts made in rock available locally often tend to be larger and found in greater numbers than artifacts made from stone transported over greater distances. In general, there is increasing selectivity in use of stone materials over time in the Palaeolithic age. Later Stone Age people were found to concentrate more on finer-grained, high quality rock sources, often quite localized in distribution and transported from some distance. Stone tools are broadly categorised into Core tool and Flake tool. Subsequently different tool-making tools are associated with them. 3.3 FRACTURE MECHANICS OF STONE One type of fracture observed in stone-tool manufacture is often called conchoidal fracture. This means conch shell like ripples or swirls that is generally evident in the artifacts manufactured in finer-grained materials. In stone-tool manufacture, a sufficiently enough force is applied to the stone in a controlled fashion. The stone usually fractures in alignment with its crystalline structure; thus, non- crystalline or finer-grained materials, especially isotropic materials with no preferential cleavage planes, such as obsidian or flint, tend to produce a smoother and more predictable fracture. The stone is deliberately fractured (or flaked) either through a sharp, percussive blow (direct or indirect flaking) or through the application of a compressive force (pressure flaking).