The Archeological Tools The Early Humans Used To Process Food

The Transition from raw diet to a cooked diet didn't just change human biology; it fundamentally shifted human technology.  Before fire, tools were primarily about extraction, after fire they evolved to processing and refinement. 

Hominins like Homo habilis designed their tools that helped to get them at food. Those tools were an extension of their teeth and nails. What their teeth and nails could not do their tools did. These, according to archeologists, belonged to Oldowan traditions. They comprised hammer stones, sharp flakes and choppers. Hammer stones were fist-sized stones used to bash animal bones to get at calorie rich bone marrow.  Sharp flakes were crude stone slivers capable of slicing meat away from carcass.  Choppers were large heavy cores used for separating meat from thick hides.  The Oldowan tools were first discovered at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania.  Later, they had been discovered at various sites in eastern, central and southern Africa, including Gona (being the oldest) Ethiopia.

After the mastery over fire, the tools were refined, and they are called Acheulean by the archeologists. Acheulean tradition constituted a real revolution in the stone age technology.  Acheulean stone tools, named after the site of St. Acheul on the Somme River of France were first discovered in 1847.  They had been found out from different locations in 
Africa, Asia, and Europe in the Eastern Hemisphere.

Acheulean stone tools are the makings of Homo erectus, a closer ancestor to modern humans. These tools were found over a wide area and for a long period.  The earliest known Acheulean tools found in Africa have been dated 1.6 million years ago. The oldest Acheulean site in India is slightly younger, in Europe it was only eight hundred thousand years ago.

Acheulean handaxes were multi-purpose tools used for variety of tasks.  They were used for butchering and skinning of game, digging in soil, cutting wood or plants,  Besides handaxes flakes were used as scrapers and cutting instruments. They were pear shaped, tear drop shaped or rounded in outline, 12 to 20 cm long and flakes over at least part of the surface of each side


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