Prehistory: Notable Concepts (including Things, Technologies, Processes, etc.)

Technology (Fact 1)

Production of tools in order to be used to interact with the world around whom the tool is produced

Knapping (Fact 1)

Process of shaping pieces of rock or stone into desirable forms using other stones

3.3 MYA - 2.6 MYA - Lomekwian Tools (Fact 0)

Who, Where, and When: Set of tools associated with the namesake lithic industry of the Lower Paleolithic made by various Australopithecines, in what is now West Turkana in Kenya in the namesake place

3.3 MYA - 2.6 MYA - Lomekwian Tools (Fact 1)

Manufacture: Set of tools made in which one would hold a core (flake-producing rock) in one hand and strike it against another rock or flat surface acting as an anvil in order to produce, from the core: a flake with a sharp edge (so tools were made with just one rock in hand)

3.3 MYA - 2.6 MYA - Lomekwian Tools (Fact 2)

Use: Set of tools used to cut, butcher, and/or break into the insides of hard-shelled nuts or bone marrow (even though the fossils found at the namesake place didn't bring up any butchered bones to suggest they are from animals); as well as possibly being used as a Scraper to get at wood

3.3 MYA - 2.6 MYA - Lomekwian Tools (Fact 3)

Set of tools that once made, were never worked at again and once used, were never used again

3.3 MYA - 2.6 MYA - Lomekwian Tools (Fact 4)

Set of tools made with rocks in just one hand

Lithic Reduction

Process of working stones and/or rocks from their natural state into tools or weapons by removing some part of the rock by striking it with another rock and making a conchoidal fracture

Lithic Flake (Fact 0)

Type of stone tool that first appears in the Lomekwian Tool Set of the Lower Paleolithic

Lithic Flake (Fact 2)

Type of stone tool that results from being the chip removed by the blow of one rock to another

Lithic Flake (Fact 1)

Type of stone tool that typically has a sharp cutting-edge, it is the result of two rocks smashed together, whether it be a core and anvil or hammerstone and core, it is the result of a fracture of a homogenous rock

Casual Core (Fact 0)

Type of stone tool that first appears in the Lomekwian Tool Set of the Lower Paleolithic

Casual Core (Fact 1)

Type of stone tool that is bashed at one point on the stone since a flake was removed from it at one point and thus was knapped by another stone in order to produce a flake with a sharp edge

2.6 MYA - 1.7 MYA - Oldowan Tools (Fact 0)

Who, Where, and When: Set of tools associated with the namesake lithic industry of the Lower Paleolithic made primarily by Homo Habilis but which was also used for a short time before being developed into a totally new industry (the industry that follows the namesake) by Homo Erectus and Homo Ergaster in what is now the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania in the namesake place and was also used for a time by various Australopithecines including Australopithecus Garhi

2.6 MYA - 1.7 MYA - Oldowan Tools (Fact 1)

Manufacture: Set of tools made by Lithic Reduction, in which one would hold a (spherical) hammerstone (or stone acting as a hammer) in one hand and strike it against a core being held in the other hand one or many times in order to produce, from the core, a conchoidal fracture that consists of a (relatively small) flake with a sharp edge and the resulting scars from the strike on the flaked core

2.6 MYA - 1.7 MYA - Oldowan Tools (Fact 2)

Use: Set of tools used in order to get at certain foods like termites and nuts and to cut through and/or butcher animals in order to obtain meat, to be used for cutters and choppers in order to break up other rocks and stones to make more stone tools; as well as possibly being used as a Scraper to get at wood

2.6 MYA - 1.7 MYA - Oldowan Tools (Fact 3)

Technical Improvements: Set of tools made using a hammerstone and core rather than core and anvil, which gives one more accuracy and precision in getting a desired form of the flake produced and thus were much more refined and higher quality than the previous lithic industry

2.6 MYA - 1.7 MYA - Oldowan Tools (Fact 4)

Technical Improvements: Set of tools that once made, were not only struck again but reworked at, the first kind of tools to be made as such; and were so refined and of such good quality hat once used, were able to be used again, the first lithic industry with such a feature

2.6 MYA - 1.7 MYA - Oldowan Tools (Fact 5)

Tool Set: Set of tools that include flakes, hammerstones (pounders), casual cores, polyhedral cores, flat-platform cores, bipolar cores, discoids, choppers, scrapers, and animal bones (likely used as digging sticks)

2.6 MYA - 1.7 MYA - Oldowan Tools (Fact 6)

Effects: Set of tools which allowed its users (mainly Homo Habilis) to cut through animals and scavenge for meat, which eventually contributed to their larger brain size and ultimately to the evolution of Homo Sapiens Sapiens as a result of the consumption of more nutritional foods such as meats and hard-shelled nuts and as a result, better tools which could get at better foods which could make bigger brains to make even better tools and so on

2.6 MYA - 1.7 MYA - Oldowan Tools (Fact 7)

Other Features: Set of tools knapped unifacially (knapping one side or face of a stone tool), the first lithic industry with such a feature

2.6 MYA - 1.7 MYA - Oldowan Tools (Fact 8)

Source: Set of tools made by first finding and using rocks or stones in the form of basaltic lava from the many active volcanoes at the time (especially in the Omo River Valley) since such rock forms are conchoidal, meaning they produce conchoidal fractures when struck, meaning they can be broken by being struck at or smashed by another rock of the same form and thus were able to be flaked and chipped to provide cutting edges and ultimately turn into stone tools

2.6 MYA - 1.7 MYA - Oldowan Tools (Fact 9)

Source: Set of tools made by first finding and using rocks or stones (and bones) found from river cobbles, which provide conchoidally fracturable rocks and/or stone tools that function as hammerstones and striking platforms (anvils) including Basalt, Quartz, Quartzite, Obsidian, Flint, and Chert (essentially any rock (or bone) that can hold an edge)

2.6 MYA - 1.7 MYA - Oldowan Tools (Fact 10)

Nicknames: Set of tools sometimes referred to as "pebble tools" because the "blanks" chosen for their production already resemble, in pebble form, the final stone tool to be made

2.6 MYA - 1.7 MYA - Oldowan Tools (Fact 11)

Nicknames: Set of tools sometimes referred to as "Mode 1 Tools" as any lithic industry is defined when concerned with "pebble tools" which includes the namesake industry among other industries

2.6 MYA - 1.7 MYA - Oldowan Tools (Fact 12)

Focus: Set of tools in which the focus of toolmaking was set on flakes rather than cores in which the cores were set aside for potential use as tools later on while the flakes were reworked into the main stone tools, in other words the flakes are the product and the core is used to produce them

2.6 MYA - 1.7 MYA - Oldowan Tools (Fact 13)

Hand Count: Set of tools made with rocks in both hands

Hammerstone (Fact 1)

Type of stone tool used for knapping, specifically for striking cores to produce flakes or striking bones to produce marrow

Hammerstone (Fact 0)

Type of stone tool that first appears in the Oldowan Tool Set of the Lower Paleolithic

Hammerstone (Fact 2)

Type of stone tool that is bashed all around because of it being used for such a long time for its designated purpose

Hammerstone (Fact 3)

Type of stone tool that exists as a cobble, sometimes referred to archaealogically as "pounded pieces"

Polyhedral Core (Fact 0)

Type of stone tool that first appears in the Oldowan Tool Set of the Lower Paleolithic

Polyhedral Core (Fact 1)

Type of stone tool that is a core with a bunch of different sides, having been struck at multiple points in order to produce multiple flake and thus was knapped by another stone in order to produce multiple flakes with sharp edges

Polyhedral Core (Fact 2)

Type of stone tool that is used repeatedly until either the user feels as if he has produced enough flakes from it or there are no more angles on the namesake rock to make flakes from

Discoid (Fact 1)

Type of stone tool that is a core that is centripetal or the namesake shape with a bunch of different sides, having been struck at multiple points but having done so in a circular fashion (sometimes on both sides of a rock) in order to produce multiple flakes and thus was knapped by another stone in order to produce multiple flakes with sharp edges

Discoid (Fact 0)

Type of stone tool that first appears in the Oldowan Tool Set of the Lower Paleolithic

Flat-Platform Core (Fact 0)

Type of stone tool that first appears in the Oldowan Tool Set of the Lower Paleolithic

Flat-Platform Core (Fact 1)

Type of stone tool that is a core that has a flat side to it so that it can be struck at multiple points but having done so around the flat edge in order to produce multiple flakes and thus was knapped by another stone in order to produce multiple flakes with sharp edges

Bipolar Core (Fact 1)

Type of stone tool that is a core that is in the form of a pebble that is smashed in between two rocks and split into multiple flakes with sharp edges and thus is only worked on once but produces multiple flakes as a result

Rock Balls (Fact 1)

Type of stone tool found at Oldowan Tool Sites with no apparent purpose (may have been used as a hammerstone) but is in the namesake shape

Chopper (Fact 0)

Type of stone tool that first appears in the Oldowan Tool Set of the Lower Paleolithic

Chopper (Fact 1)

Type of stone tool made by thoroughly striking one side of a core producing a ton of flakes but more importantly, producing a core with an irregular cutting edge that can be used to perform the namesake action and thus turns into the namesake tool and thus is a uniface/unifacial tool

Burin (Fact 0)

Type of stone tool that first appears in the Oldowan Tool Set of the Lower Paleolithic

Burin (Fact 1)

Type of stone tool that is a flake that is made via lithic reduction and made with a chisel-like edge

Burin (Fact 2)

Type of stone tool that is used for engraving and/or carving wood and/or bone

Awl (Fact 1)

Type of stone tool that is used for marking surfaces and punching, enlarging, or piercing small holes

Awl (Fact 0)

Type of stone tool that first appears in the Oldowan Tool Set of the Lower Paleolithic

Light Duty Oldowan Tools (Fact 1)

Class of stone tools that consist mainly of flakes including scrapers, burins, and awls

Heavy Duty Oldowan Tools (Fact 2)

Class of stone tools that consist of choppers, scrapers, and large flakes that were used as axes for woodworking, for scraping clean a branch separated from a tree, and for preparing hides by cutting and/or slicing them off animals and pericering and/or scraping them clean of residues

Heavy Duty Oldowan Tools (Fact 1)

Class of stone tools that consist mainly of cores spherical hammerstones, polyhedral cores, discoids, and unifacial and bifacial choppers

Utilized Pieces (Fact 1)

Class of stone tools that consist mainly of stone tools that began being made with one purpose in mind but ended up being used for another purpose

Uniface (Fact 1)

Characteristic of a stone tool that has only one of its sides flaked or chipped

Biface (Fact 1)

Characteristic of a stone tool that has both of its sides flakes or chipped

1.9 MYA - 130 KYA - Acheulean Tools (Fact 0)

Who, Where, and When: Set of tools associated with the namesake lithic industry of the Lower and Middle Paleolithic made primarily by Homo Erectus and Homo Ergaster but also used by other hominids afterwards including Homo Heidelbergensis, Homo Sapiens Idaltu, and Homo Sapiens Neanderthalensis; all of which first occurred in the namesake location in Amiens, France but also later occurred in South and East Africa; Southeastern and Southwestern China; and Europe

1.9 MYA - 130 KYA - Acheulean Tools (Fact 1)

Manufacture: Set of tools made by Lithic Reduction, in which one would hold a (spherical) hammerstone (or stone acting as a hammer) in one hand and strike it against a core being held in the other hand many times covering the circumference of a rock and thus producing the first of three sets of flakes, which would then be removed from the rock and set aside as potential tools to be made later on

1.9 MYA - 130 KYA - Acheulean Tools (Fact 2)

Manufacture: Set of tools made by Lithic Reduction, in which a scar on a core created by the removal of one flake would provide a striking platform for the removal of the next flake and the scars covering the circumference of a rock in which one set of flakes has been removed provide striking platforms for the production of the second of three sets of flakes, which would then be removed from the rock and set aside as potential tools to be made later on

1.9 MYA - 130 KYA - Acheulean Tools (Fact 3)

Manufacture: Set of tools made by Lithic Reduction, in which a stone tool would be reworked a second time in order to make it as thin as could be but was done so using a hammer made of bone and/or antler instead of stone since this made the eventually created stone tool more accurate and precise and thus served to produce the third of three sets of flakes, which would then be removed from the rock and set aside as potential tools to be made later on

1.9 MYA - 130 KYA - Acheulean Tools (Fact 4)

Manufacture: Set of tools made by Lithic Reduction, in which a stone tool would be reworked a third time in which there would be sharpening of the cutting edge of the tool using the finest removal of flakes and sometimes through the removal of a special kind of flake called a tranchet flake

1.9 MYA - 130 KYA - Acheulean Tools (Fact 5)

Use: Set of tools used for many of the same purposes as previous lithic industries, except there are new tools made mainly for hunting animals to obtain meat and other nutritional foods (Hand-Axe) as well as tools to get at bone, wood, bamboo, and other raw materials (Scraper, Cleaver) through scraping, cleaving, dismembering, and butchering

1.9 MYA - 130 KYA - Acheulean Tools (Fact 6)

Use: Set of tools used for many of the same purposes as previous lithic industries, except there are new tools made for hacking wood from a tree, cutting and butchering animal carcasses, scraping and cutting animal hides, and digging roots

1.9 MYA - 130 KYA - Acheulean Tools (Fact 7)

Use: Set of tools used for many of the same purposes as previous lithic industries, except there are a few that may have had more social and/or aesthetic applications rather than practical ones

1.9 MYA - 130 KYA - Acheulean Tools (Fact 8)

Technical Improvements: Set of tools like those of the previous lithic industry but better in that new tools are made, are made for the first time from sources other than stone such as bone, wood, and antler, which are sources that allow for better shaping of tools than ever before; and are made with an increased care for the final product of the tool due to the evident precision and accuracy resulting from resharpening and reuse over time

1.9 MYA - 130 KYA - Acheulean Tools (Fact 9)

Tool Set: Set of tools that include all of the tools from previous lithic industries, but also the Hand Axe which eventually developed (many years later) into the Teardrop-shaped Hand Axe as well as the various other pointed, cordate, ovate, ficron, and bout-coupe Hand-Axes; as well as the Cleaver, Scraper, Pick; and retouched flakes and segmental chopping tools

1.9 MYA - 130 KYA - Acheulean Tools (Fact 10)

Effects: Set of tools which allowed its users (mainly Homo Erectus and Homo Ergaster) to kill animals and hunt for meat, which eventually contributed to their larger brain size and ultimately to the evolution of Homo Sapiens Sapiens as a result of the consumption of more nutritional foods which led to bigger brains which led to better tools which led to better food which led to even bigger brains and so on

1.9 MYA - 130 KYA - Acheulean Tools (Fact 11)

Effects: Set of tools which were first envisioned by its users in which they could see the tool within a rock, and strike the rock and flake it out accordingly in order to produce the tool, the tool is revealed on the inside and is worked at more; a process which when done countless times for hundreds of thousands of years likely enlarged the brain size of the Homo Genus (and also decreased the size of teeth likely as a result of the discovery of cooking coinciding with Homo Erectus and Homo Ergaster toolmaking)

1.9 MYA - 130 KYA - Acheulean Tools (Fact 12)

Other Features: Set of tools knapped bifacially (knapping each side or face of a stone tool), which meant that greater care went into the production of the final tool due to the working of tools on both sides in a symmetrical fashion

1.9 MYA - 130 KYA - Acheulean Tools (Fact 13)

Source: Set of tools made by first finding and using rocks or stones (and bones) found in the local areas from which they were made and that were conchoidal in order to eventually be used to make stone tools which included flint, basalt, mudstone, chalcedony, quartz, quartzite, andesite, sandstone, chert, shale, and limestone

1.9 MYA - 130 KYA - Acheulean Tools (Fact 14)

Nicknames: Set of tools sometimes referred to as "large cutting tools", the first of their kind

1.9 MYA - 130 KYA - Acheulean Tools (Fact 15)

Nicknames: Set of tools sometimes referred to as "Mode 2 Tools", which concern bifacially worked or designed tools

1.9 MYA - 130 KYA - Acheulean Tools (Fact 16)

Classes: Set of tools which can be divided into 4 regional sets or classes of tools which on their own have some distinct characteristics and were developed throughout the namesake set's time period including the Madrasian, Soanian, Clactonian, and Mugharan Tool Sets

1.9 MYA - 130 KYA - Acheulean Tools (Fact 17)

Classes: Set of tools which are quite large and sometimes divided into 4 temporal sets or classes of tools including the Early, Middle, Late Middle, and Late divisions of the namesake set of tools

1.9 MYA - 130 KYA - Acheulean Tools (Fact 18)

Focus: Set of tools in which the focus of toolmaking was set on cores rather than flakes in which the flakes were set aside for potential use as tools later on while the core was reworked into stone tools, in other words the cores themselves were the end product shaped, trimmed down, and ultimately produced by the removal of flakes

1.9 MYA - 130 KYA - Acheulean Tools (Fact 19)

Effects: Set of tools that required the toolmaker to think 1-2 steps ahead while working, which necessitated a clear sequence of steps to create several tools in one sitting due to the variety of smaller flakes chipped off larger flakes that had been struck from cores being made into smaller tools all from the same core and/or rock

1.9 MYA - 130 KYA - Acheulean Tools (Fact 20)

Effects: Set of tools that required the toolmaker to solve and overcome problems that consistently arose due to misjudged blows or flaws in the raw materials used and that required the toolmaker to have patience and care in preparing striking platforms when using other materials than stone such as bone and antler to remove the tiniest flakes from stone

1.9 MYA - 130 KYA - Acheulean Tools (Fact 21)

Effects: Set of tools that due to the precision and accuracy exhibited while making them, eventually led to more and more room and/or opportunities for artistic and/or aesthetic decisions in the making of the final product of a stone tool such as the "Venus of Berekhat Ram" tool/figurine and which likely was a contributing factor to the artistic qualities of Homo Sapiens Sapiens

1.5 MYA - 130 KYA - Madrasian Tools (Fact 1)

Sub-Set of Acheulean Tools belonging to India that include regionally distinct choppers and chopping tools, flakes and flake tools, bifacial handaxes, cleavers, and microliths all of which are made predominantly from Quartz/Quartzite

500 KYA - 130 KYA - Soanian Tools (Fact 1)

Sub-Set of Acheulean Tools belonging to Northern India, Nepal, and Pakistan named after the namesake Pakistani region that include regionally distinct choppers and chopping tools, flakes and flake tools, scrapers, cores, and discoids all of which are made predominantly from Quartz/Quartzite pebbles, cobbles, and boulders

424,000 BP - 400,000 BP - Clactonian Tools (Fact 1)

Sub-Set of Acheulean Tools made exclusively by Homo Heidelbergensis that include flint chopping tools, flint flakes, and the tip of a worked wooden shaft (along with the remains of a giant elephant and hippopotamus); all of which were made by striking thick, irregular flakes from a core of flint, which was then employed as a chopper and from which the flakes were used as scrapers and/or knives

400,000 BP - 220,000 BP - Mugharan Tools (Fact 1)

Sub-Set of Acheulean Tools belonging to the Levant or Fertile Crescent (Middle East) made up of three smaller complex stone tool traditions, one of which is the Acheulo-Yabrudian, which consists mainly of scrapers and handaxes

400,000 BP - 220,000 BP - Mugharan Tools (Fact 2)

Sub-Set of Acheulean Tools belonging to the Levant or Fertile Crescent (Middle East) made up of three smaller complex stone tool traditions, one of which is the Yabrudian, which consists mainly of really thick scrapers

400,000 BP - 220,000 BP - Mugharan Tools (Fact 3)

Sub-Set of Acheulean Tools belonging to the Levant or Fertile Crescent (Middle East) made up of three smaller complex stone tool traditions, one of which is the Pre-Aurignacian or Amudian, which consists mainly of blades and blade tools

Hand Axe (Fact 0)

Type of stone tool that first appears in the Acheulean Tool Set of the Lower and Middle Paleolithic

Hand Axe (Fact 1)

Type of stone tool made by producing flakes after striking hand-sized rocks to a sharp point on both sides with a rounded end for gripping and with the shaping process being focused on the edge of the tool

Hand Axe (Fact 2)

Type of stone tool that have a large cutting edge often extending around the entire tool, the first kind of tool of its precision and accuracy to be like this and can be resharpened when it starts to wear out from previous use

Hand Axe (Fact 3)

Type of stone tool that was used for multiple purposes, the first of its kind including hacking or cutting wood or bone, butchering animals, and other cutting purposes

Hand Axe (Fact 4)

Type of stone tool that can be made into a cleaver by striking off the top part that essentially is responsible for the "teardrop" shape

Hand Axe (Fact 5)

Type of stone tool that may have been used for a variety of social means such as those that are really well-worked despite there having never been used and thus (likely) played a role in their owners' identity and interactions with others, (perhaps) showing off their skill of making the same technology to each other

Hand Axe (Fact 6)

Type of stone tool that may have been used for a variety of social means such as special kinds made by males to search for a mate, displaying a large, well-made variety of the namesake technology to show that they possessed strength and skill that they could pass to their offspring and then after finding a mate, discarding the hand-axe for its uselessness

Cleaver (Fact 0)

Type of stone tool that first appears in the Acheulean Tool Set of the Lower and Middle Paleolithic

Cleaver (Fact 1)

Type of stone tool made with the straight tip of the top of a tool to form a primitive knife

Cleaver (Fact 2)

Type of stone tool in which its edges are used for the namesake action as well as cutting

Cleaver (Fact 3)

Type of stone tool in which some have edges that are not perpendicular to the longside of the tool but still exist and work accordingly at an angle

Cleaver (Fact 4)

Type of stone tool that can be made from a Hand Axe

Pick (Fact 0)

Type of stone tool that first appears in the Acheulean Tool Set of the Lower and Middle Paleolithic

Pick (Fact 1)

Type of stone tool made with focus at the top of the tool with a pointed and triangular (bifacial) tip and is a (relatively) robust tool

Pick (Fact 2)

Type of stone tool primarily used for digging and drilling

Scraper (Fact 1)

Type of stone tool used for the namesake action, it is unifacial

Scraper (Fact 0)

Type of stone tool that first appears in the Acheulean Tool Set of the Lower and Middle Paleolithic and possibly in even older Tool Sets such as the Oldowan and/or Lomekwian

300,000 BP - 40,000 BP - Mousterian Tools (Fact 0)

Who, Where, and When: Set of tools associated with the namesake lithic industry of the Middle Paleolithic and/or namesake-Levallois lithic industry, made primarily by Homo Sapiens Neanderthalensis like that of the namesake type site fossil in the namesake place in the Dordogne Region of France (up until 40,000 BP) but also by extremely early and early non-Homo-Sapiens-Neanderthalensis Homo Sapiens in North Africa and West Asia (up until 200,000 BP)

300,000 BP - 40,000 BP - Mousterian Tools (Fact 1)

Manufacture: Set of tools made by the Levallois Prepared-Core Technique in which a core is obtained and by which a striking platform is formed at one end while the edges of the core obtained are trimmed by flaking off pieces around the outline of the intended flake to be struck off turning the obtained core into that of a "tortoise core" since its form and flake-scars resemble the shell of a tortoise, and is a prime indicator of the namesake lithic industry