Various Tool Making Industries and Patterns in Stone Age

The first evidence of stone tool use by hominins, dating back to 3.3 million years ago in Kenya and Ethiopia. These simple tools predate the Oldowan industry and represent the dawn of human technology.

Oldowan Culture

Oldowan Culture is the earliest widespread stone tool industry in world, dating from 2.6 to 1.7 million years ago.

• Characterized by simple chopping tools and flakes, associated with Homo habilis and early Homo erectus.
• Found primarily in Africa but also in parts of Europe and Asia including India.
• In India, the closest example of Oldowan culture is of Mahadevian pebble culture in Narmada valley near Narsinghpur town, Madhya Pradesh. The tools of Oldowan culture are crude with oval and pear-shapes
• In February 2023, the Scientists discovered the oldest known stone tools in Kenya, dating back 2.9 million years, known as Oldowan toolkit. This toolkit included hammer-stones, cores and flakes.

Acheulean Culture (1.76 million – 130,000 years ago)

This is more advanced tool making industry successor to the Oldowan and developed during the Lower Paleolithic era.

• Acheulian culture was named after the French site of St. Acheul where first specimen of the same were found.
• The distinguishing feature of Acheulean culture is the proliferation of hand-axe tools, characterized by a symmetrical biface shape.
• Homo erectus and Homo heidelbergensis are thought to be the main tool makers of Acheulean culture.
• This culture is most prominently found in Africa, but evidence extends from Western Europe to the Indian subcontinent.
• Acheulean tools show a progression of development and advancement over time, suggesting the gradual evolution of cognitive capabilities in early humans.
• This culture was eventually replaced by the Mousterian culture approximately 300,000 years ago by Neanderthals.

Mousterian industry

• Mousterian industry is associated with the Neanderthals, that spanned from about 300,000 to 30,000 years ago, mainly during the Middle Paleolithic period.
• The term “Mousterian” comes from the location of Le Moustier, a rock shelter in the Dordogne region of France.
• In the Mousterian industry, the predominant tool was the scraper.
• Mousterian tools were predominantly made from flint and were produced using the Levallois technique. Thus, Levallois technique was developed by Homo neanderthalensis about 300,000 years ago.
• The industry is characterized by a diversification and increase in tool types including scrappers, points, and handaxes.
• Unique bone tools have been found in Mousterian layers in France which some consider as evidence of Neanderthal innovation and symbolism.
• The Mousterian industry disappeared around 40,000 years ago, effectively ending the Neanderthal period.

Apart from the above, there were some other tool traditions.  In the Mesolithic era, the microlith became predominant. It was often fastened to a shaft to create arrows or spears.