The Mysteries of Stone Tools
Why is the term mystery being used? After all a stone is a stone and
to use it as a tool is not the biggest news in Archaeology.
To be honest, this must be the tenth or more time I have tried to sit
down and put together the history of stone tools. Now it's do it or leave a blank in the Pecos Museum.
But I am still faced with the same problem as the last ten times.
The tools are a mystery. Man used stone for everything.
Is there any wonder we refer to the years he lived in the caves, as the "Stone Age"?
Yet I will surprise most of you. You may find it hard to believe that
most stone artifacts are overlooked at sites. This is especially true
of sites that are searched by walking their surface. The average
amateur will miss those stone artifacts that do not reach out and
bite him. And it is almost the same, with the pros. How many have you tossed aside?
It's very much like the interest given to sunken ships, if they were laden with gold, the treasure hunters will go to almost any extreme to raid them. Those walking the sites will spot that arrow head a half mile away. But a stone saw or hammer will be kicked aside as trash.
At the average site the stone tools or worked stone, would out number the stone points an average of ten to one. Their story has far more to offer to those missing pages then we can imagine.
First we need make it clear, that man human was not the sole user of stone
as a tool. That stone tools were in use by pre man, hominid, that
their use by man saw little change over a period of two million years.
It is only the advancement of man to where we call him human, that we see stone enter
it's greatest value. Man human would shape and reshape it, much the way we
now take the atom and shape and reshape it.
For this reason, I find it better we start our story with the man
human, and as this seems to begin around 10,000 BP, our interest
will be from that time to man entering the modern era, the time of
building communities.
For this we are most fortunate, the Zueberbueler shelter in West Texas
will offer us many of man's attempts to solve his problems with a
stone tool. Where it is possible to refer to tools or use of tools
elsewhere we shall try to include them.
Yes, we are going to talk of Early Man tools. How man worked stone, a skill made of
stone. But we should mention man's total dependency on stone. There are his games,
using stone balls and stone counters. His art on stone walls using paint made from stone.
There are also his stone sinkers for fishing. How did it go? A brilliant saying by the Pecos
curator, "He lived within stone, on stone and by the stone". Yes sir, this is stone age man.
Stone, it's use
A short note on stone use, before getting down to the task of describing early man and his
tools. We, or some anthropologist's and archaeologist's have discovered that tools were in
use long before the advent of man. That the history of their use in
the hands of man,
spans some four million years or more.
Here in the United States or North America, the history of tools began a new chapter
about 10,000 BP. Prior to that man had been a hunter of large animals, such as the
mammoth and mastodon. No doubt he had tools with him, the making of his hunting gear
tells us that, but little more do we know of him. The man or his tools.
The slow extinction of the great beast around 10,000 BP caused man to accept a new way
of life. In the southwest United States this frequently meant man would make a
permanent home for himself in caves. In southwest Texas this meant shelters available in
the rock faces of many canyons. The Pecos and Rio Grande rivers offered hundreds of
such new homes.
One benefit of these new homes, the story of man was now being preserved. One of the
chapters we find there, is the story of tools. A few of these tools were the heritage of man
the big game hunter, but most we learn were developed at the new shelters. This claim is
based on the many new crafts that could be observed being introduced into the lives of
early man. Among these, the improved method of working stone. Man that moved into
the Zueberbueler shelter, high above the Pecos river, had a limited skill with stone when
he made it his home around 10,000 BP. It was clear from the recovered worked stone at
the habitation site, he was finding new uses for tools and forms that would aid him in his
new tasks.
To gain an idea of man, then, and man today, and the need for tools that is shared
between the two eras, let's take a few moments to look at
today's toolbox or tool kit. This
is the industrial and technical era of man. The need of tools of many
forms is required.
But even with such demand there is still the need for several basic
tools. So open the lid
and have a peek.
A hammer, a saw, a drill. No great surprise there, early man made these of stone at the
shelter. But there were many tools recovered at the shelter, some of stone, and others of
bone, wood, and antler. So let's dig down in the box.
Here are a few. An awl, a gage, some sandpaper. Again these were made and used by our
local craftsman. The awl of bone, the gage of antler and the latter made from stone. Then
there is a paint brush, a spokeshave and other scrapers. Again the latter two made of
stone, while feathers tied to a stick did well with the paint.
Oh look! As with man of today's tools, there is a stone wedge and axe.
If we keep poking, I
am sure we will find more tools made and used by early man, that
remain in use even to
this day.
When we speak of stone tools or stone points we find our thoughts turning to flint. Yes,
this was the stone of choice for many of man's tasks, but not the
sole choice by far. Flint
worked well to get a sharp edge, to gain the form needed to scrape a hide, but these were
only two of man's needs for stone. Let's turn to some other common use for stone, and the
materials man put to use.
When investigating a early man site, 2,000 to 10,000 BP, we will most
likely come upon
steatite or soapstone. This material still in common use among
those making tools, but in
a new capacity. Today's mechanists use the soapstone as a marker,
like we may use a
pencil. A bit of a down turn from a few millennium past.
Steatite's big role was in being made into man's first bowls. These
containers saw common
use at many sites of southeast America. Large and very heavy they were
seldom carried
about from site to site. But even as a stone their life was often
short.
Soapstone when recovered from it's quarry is very soft. A feature that allowed man to cut
it to shapes, such as bowls. The one problem is they were heavy, 30 to 40 pounds not
unusual. Within hours of being exposed to the air the stone would harden and the bowl
could enter service. But often the story of steatite only begin with the making of a stone
bowl.
Samples recovered at the Florida sites demonstrate that even a broken stone bowl would
still offer man many new products. Even in it's hardened state the stone was easy to carve
or grind. The list of items made from shards recovered is numerous. From small beads to
pendents. Often there were recovered odd shapes that will never be
understood. A few samples
If I were to pick a number two, for this list of non flint stone put to use, it would be
volcanic material. In many forms, the light pumice, hard and heavy porous lava, to
basalt, a black stone worked like flint.
In northern Mexico the basalt saw wide spread use. Flint was not
available so this
became the stone of choice. It chipped well and offered a bonus, it
ground well. In
addition to the points recovered many Cruciform were among the items
of the desert.
The hard porous volcanic rock was put to use in making mutates. Along the Gulf Coast of
Florida the light form floated in from the south and was put to use as sandpaper. It's fine
grit is put to use even to this day, restaurants use it in blocks to
clean their grills.
Our list can go on. Obsidian, black, and at times translucent, that worked similar to flint,
was very popular for both tools and points. Even today's popular onyx, was encountered.
Granite made excellent grinding slabs, the mutates and manos. In Florida there were clear
quartz crystals used as flaking tools. And common river pebbles were employed in many
tasks, as well as used for raw material.
Do you know your tools?
The Mysteries of Stone Tools
Why is the term mystery being used? After all a stone is a stone and to use it as a tool is not the biggest news in Archaeology. To be honest, this must be the tenth or more time I have tried to sit down and put together the history of stone tools. Now it's do it or leave a blank in the Pecos Museum. But I am still faced with the same problem as the last ten times. The tools are a mystery. Man used stone for everything. Is there any wonder we refer to the years he lived in the caves, as the "Stone Age"? Yet I will surprise most of you. You may find it hard to believe that most stone artifacts are overlooked at sites. This is especially true of sites that are searched by walking their surface. The average amateur will miss those stone artifacts that do not reach out and bite him. And it is almost the same, with the pros. How many have you tossed aside? It's very much like the interest given to sunken ships, if they were laden with gold, the treasure hunters will go to almost any extreme to raid them. Those walking the sites will spot that arrow head a half mile away. But a stone saw or hammer will be kicked aside as trash. At the average site the stone tools or worked stone, would out number the stone points an average of ten to one. Their story has far more to offer to those missing pages then we can imagine. First we need make it clear, that man human was not the sole user of stone as a tool. That stone tools were in use by pre man, hominid, that their use by man saw little change over a period of two million years. It is only the advancement of man to where we call him human, that we see stone enter it's greatest value. Man human would shape and reshape it, much the way we now take the atom and shape and reshape it. For this reason, I find it better we start our story with the man human, and as this seems to begin around 10,000 BP, our interest will be from that time to man entering the modern era, the time of building communities. For this we are most fortunate, the Zueberbueler shelter in West Texas will offer us many of man's attempts to solve his problems with a stone tool. Where it is possible to refer to tools or use of tools elsewhere we shall try to include them. Yes, we are going to talk of Early Man tools. How man worked stone, a skill made of stone. But we should mention man's total dependency on stone. There are his games, using stone balls and stone counters. His art on stone walls using paint made from stone. There are also his stone sinkers for fishing. How did it go? A brilliant saying by the Pecos curator, "He lived within stone, on stone and by the stone". Yes sir, this is stone age man. Stone, it's use A short note on stone use, before getting down to the task of describing early man and his tools. We, or some anthropologist's and archaeologist's have discovered that tools were in use long before the advent of man. That the history of their use in the hands of man, spans some four million years or more. Here in the United States or North America, the history of tools began a new chapter about 10,000 BP. Prior to that man had been a hunter of large animals, such as the mammoth and mastodon. No doubt he had tools with him, the making of his hunting gear tells us that, but little more do we know of him. The man or his tools. The slow extinction of the great beast around 10,000 BP caused man to accept a new way of life. In the southwest United States this frequently meant man would make a permanent home for himself in caves. In southwest Texas this meant shelters available in the rock faces of many canyons. The Pecos and Rio Grande rivers offered hundreds of such new homes. One benefit of these new homes, the story of man was now being preserved. One of the chapters we find there, is the story of tools. A few of these tools were the heritage of man the big game hunter, but most we learn were developed at the new shelters. This claim is based on the many new crafts that could be observed being introduced into the lives of early man. Among these, the improved method of working stone. Man that moved into the Zueberbueler shelter, high above the Pecos river, had a limited skill with stone when he made it his home around 10,000 BP. It was clear from the recovered worked stone at the habitation site, he was finding new uses for tools and forms that would aid him in his new tasks. To gain an idea of man, then, and man today, and the need for tools that is shared between the two eras, let's take a few moments to look at today's toolbox or tool kit. This is the industrial and technical era of man. The need of tools of many forms is required. But even with such demand there is still the need for several basic tools. So open the lid and have a peek.
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A hammer, a saw, a drill. No great surprise there, early man made these of stone at the shelter. But there were many tools recovered at the shelter, some of stone, and others of bone, wood, and antler. So let's dig down in the box. Here are a few. An awl, a gage, some sandpaper. Again these were made and used by our local craftsman. The awl of bone, the gage of antler and the latter made from stone. Then there is a paint brush, a spokeshave and other scrapers. Again the latter two made of stone, while feathers tied to a stick did well with the paint. Oh look! As with man of today's tools, there is a stone wedge and axe. If we keep poking, I am sure we will find more tools made and used by early man, that remain in use even to this day. When we speak of stone tools or stone points we find our thoughts turning to flint. Yes, this was the stone of choice for many of man's tasks, but not the sole choice by far. Flint worked well to get a sharp edge, to gain the form needed to scrape a hide, but these were only two of man's needs for stone. Let's turn to some other common use for stone, and the materials man put to use. When investigating a early man site, 2,000 to 10,000 BP, we will most likely come upon steatite or soapstone. This material still in common use among those making tools, but in a new capacity. Today's mechanists use the soapstone as a marker, like we may use a pencil. A bit of a down turn from a few millennium past. Steatite's big role was in being made into man's first bowls. These containers saw common use at many sites of southeast America. Large and very heavy they were seldom carried about from site to site. But even as a stone their life was often short. Soapstone when recovered from it's quarry is very soft. A feature that allowed man to cut it to shapes, such as bowls. The one problem is they were heavy, 30 to 40 pounds not unusual. Within hours of being exposed to the air the stone would harden and the bowl could enter service. But often the story of steatite only begin with the making of a stone bowl. Samples recovered at the Florida sites demonstrate that even a broken stone bowl would still offer man many new products. Even in it's hardened state the stone was easy to carve or grind. The list of items made from shards recovered is numerous. From small beads to pendents. Often there were recovered odd shapes that will never be understood. A few samples If I were to pick a number two, for this list of non flint stone put to use, it would be volcanic material. In many forms, the light pumice, hard and heavy porous lava, to basalt, a black stone worked like flint. In northern Mexico the basalt saw wide spread use. Flint was not available so this became the stone of choice. It chipped well and offered a bonus, it ground well. In addition to the points recovered many Cruciform were among the items of the desert. The hard porous volcanic rock was put to use in making mutates. Along the Gulf Coast of Florida the light form floated in from the south and was put to use as sandpaper. It's fine grit is put to use even to this day, restaurants use it in blocks to clean their grills. Our list can go on. Obsidian, black, and at times translucent, that worked similar to flint, was very popular for both tools and points. Even today's popular onyx, was encountered. Granite made excellent grinding slabs, the mutates and manos. In Florida there were clear quartz crystals used as flaking tools. And common river pebbles were employed in many tasks, as well as used for raw material.
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