Search
Search Results
Definition
Oldowan Tools
The appearance of simple stone tools, widely known as Oldowan tools or the Oldowan industry, marked the beginning of our technological revolution. To our knowledge, these artifacts appeared around 2.6 million years ago in the savannahs of...
Article
Stone Age Tools
As the Stone Age covers around 99% of our human technological history, it would seem there is a lot to talk about when looking at the development of tools in this period. Despite our reliance on the sometimes scarce archaeological record...
Definition
Paleolithic
The Palaeolithic ('Old Stone Age') makes up the earliest chunk of the Stone Age – the large swathe of time during which hominins used stone to make tools – and ranges from the first known tool use roughly 2,6 million years ago...
Definition
Homo Habilis
Homo habilis ("handy man") is an extinct species of human that lived in East and South Africa between 2.3 and 1.5 million years ago and plays an interesting role in the discussion surrounding the dawn of our genus of Homo, which is thought...
Definition
Homo Rudolfensis
Homo rudolfensis is an early human species that lived in East Africa between c. 2.5 and 1.8 million years ago. It is known from a handful of skull, jaw and teeth fragments that remind alternatingly of Homo or of Australopithecus and that...
Definition
Stone Age
From the dawn of our species to the present day, stone-made artefacts are the dominant form of material remains that have survived to today concerning human technology. The term “Stone Age” was coined in the late 19th century...
Image
Oldowan Chopper
Chopper made from basalt by early humans between 1,8 and 2 million years ago. It belongs to the Oldowan stone tool industry, was found in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania - the place the industry is named after. Its dimensions are length: 9.29 cm...
Article
The Neanderthal-Sapiens Connection
In May 2010, after years of intense discussions surrounding possible fossils of mixed Homo sapiens and Neanderthal descent floating around the scientific community, a team led by Svante Pääbo of the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary...
Image
Oldowan Chopper Tool
An example of an Oldowan stone chopper tool. From the Atlantic-Saharan region. (National Archaeological Museum, Madrid)
Image
Stone Age Tools (Modern Recreations)
A collection of modern recreations of Stone Age tools. The picture above shows (from top right to bottom left): A hatchet with a wing spar, used for felling trees A straight hatchet for shortening smaller pieces of wood (with a piece...