Ancient Humans Made Millions Of These - We Don’t Know Why

The Acheulean handaxe was the most common tool of early humans, but we still don’t know what the heck they used it for.
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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:
- Acheulean handaxe: large, chipped stone objects which represent the oldest, most common, and longest-used formally-shaped working tool in human history.
- Microscopy: the technical field of using microscopes to view samples & objects that cannot be seen with the unaided eye.
- Microlith: small stone tool usually made of flint or chert and typically a centimeter or so in length and half a centimeter wide.
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"Acheulean handaxe" photo by Mary Harrsch
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"Obsidian Microlith" photo by the Smithsonian
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REFERENCES
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Rodriguez, Alice. (2023). Personal Communication. Department of Anthropology, NYU. as.nyu.edu/departments/anthro...
Iovita, Radu. (2023). Personal Communication. Department of Anthropology, NYU. as.nyu.edu/faculty/radu-iovit...
Chang, M. (2009). The Case Against Sexual Selection as an Explanation of Handaxe Morphology. Paleoanthropology. paleoanthro.org/static/journa...
Welsh, J. (2022). Tools May Have Been First Money. Live Science. www.livescience.com/18751-han...
Key, A J. M., Proffitt, T, Stefani, Elena and Lycett, Stephen J. (2016) Looking at handaxes from another angle: Assessing the ergonomic and functional importance of edge form in Acheulean bifaces. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 44 (Part A). pp. 43-55. kar.kent.ac.uk/57215/3/Key%20...
Iovita, R., McPherron, S.P., 2011. The handaxe reloaded: A morphometric reassessment of Acheulian and Middle Paleolithic handaxes. Journal of Human Evolution 61, 61-74. Retrieved from: doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2011...
Iovita, R., Tuvi-Arad, I., Moncel, M.-H., Despriée, J., Voinchet, P., Bahain, J.-J., 2017. High handaxe symmetry at the beginning of the European Acheulian: The data from la Noira (France) in context. PLOS ONE 12, e0177063. Retrieved from: doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone....
Wayman. J.L. (2010) Foot Cutters: A New Hypothesis for the Function of Acheulian Bifaces and Related Lithics, Lithic Technology, 35:2, 171-194, Retrieved from: www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/1...
Sorensen, A.C., Claud, E. & Soressi, M. Neandertal fire-making technology inferred from microwear analysis. Sci Rep 8, 10065 (2018). doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-28...
Aranda, V. et al. (2012) Experimental Program for the Detection of Use Wear in Quartzite. International Conference on Use-Wear Analysis: Use-Wear 2012.
Iovita, R., Sano, K. (Eds.), 2016. Multidisciplinary approaches to the study of Stone Age weaponry, Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht.
M. Dominguez- Rodrigo, J. Serrallonga, J. Juan-Tresserras, L. Alcala, L. Luque. (2001). Woodworking activities by early humans: a plant residue analysis on Acheulian stone tools from Peninj (Tanzania), Journal of Human Evolution, Volume 40, Issue 4. doi.org/10.1006/jhev.2000.0466

[@babilon6097]

It was a tool to confuse future archaeologists.

[@mkks4559]

We should bring this back.

[@JAVA__RAM]

I think we should wait for experts' replies

[@Blabla130]

What a tool

[@billcipher4368]

The real tool that confused scientist were the dead goats thatwere bought for testing

[@rafaykhanyousefzai]

@@JAVA__RAM I can feel them coming!!!!!

[@AntiAntagonist]

Considering the amount of time it would take to make the tool, I'd wonder if many copies of the tool were made, but not refined until they were needed. Basically the overall shape is made, then set aside. When a tool broke you take one of the nearly-finished tools out of storage. While the tool is in storage it could still be used as currency, since it's a multi-purpose tool already.

[@kennyholmes5196]

That would explain most of them, but not the ones with all marks. However, if they're a multi-tool and the unmarked ones are spares, it would explain it.

[@danilooliveira6580]

its also possible that the majority of the tools people made didn't end up the way they liked it, so they would just throw it away and make another one. its something I've seem happening with people trying to make them. they make one, but they don't like the result because its too small or too uncomfortable to use, so they just try again.

[@Flaschenteufel]

You simply hit basically with another harder stone in about 45° on the edges. Takes about 10 minutes if you got used to it.

[@gix10000]

@@danilooliveira6580 Having grown up in a flinty area and made similar things for fun as a kid, this definitely makes the most sense. Sometimes they just don't break right. Add in that hunter-gatherers probably didn't work nearly as much as us, and were plunged into darkness with at best a nearby fire for large chunks of the week, and it seems sane they just made a bunch for practice/recreation and to pick the best ones.

[@Mic_Glow]

Probably. And to attract mates/ serve as luxurious religious object "I have 2 tear-shaped rocks, hop in my cave"

[@Qingeaton]

One solution to this question is to consider that the best stone was often found in limited places. Those places would be visited by any number of different groups, if no one group was strong enough to completely control it, shutting others out. This means that a group would camp and make these bi faces out of large rocks, reducing the weight of the raw material and only carrying home what is essentially a blank that can later be fashioned into a particular tool. I am a flint knapper and to make any decent point, one needs to start with a larger piece of rock and reduce it by easily 90% to get one of these bifaces, which can then be carried away and worked on in one's own territory. Often, you find working sites placed at a high point on the land, suggesting one had to keep a look out for others at the same time as working on their tools.

[@soupordave]

The sound of striking the hammer stone on to your flint must have carried for a long while. Anyone in the area that heard it would instantly know what you were doing and might decide it was worth checking out to see if they could steal your good flint.

[@SonoraSlinger]

Yuuuup. A biface or "trade blank" was easier to carry off than it's larger portion. And while carrying it, it may as well be able to serve a few purposes.

[@Qingeaton]

@@SonoraSlinger True, not to mention that you can have the thing 90% of where you want it and the last smack breaks it in two, making it trash. Best to make your trash at the site and only carry good stuff back to your home range. I just bought a box of very nice Hornstone from Kentucky. It typically has a "rind" or cortex like a watermelon surrounding the good stuff inside. The cortex is worthless for a tool, and has to be removed through reduction.

[@boagski]

Damn that is so interesting, life back then sounds extreme

[@buggaboo2707]

I feel like they could be blanks, or failed attempts at crafting a tool.... I mean if you are knapping and find a crack or impurity or something... you could either make a smaller tool or just toss it aside and start a new one...

[@eve_squared]

From the fact it had all sorts of marks on them, it's very possible this was just one of the first multitools. Crude but effective for chopping, grinding, cutting, chipping, or digging it seems like they may have been used for anything they worked for.

[@Davefinney370]

You win the Internet today.

[@turtol6494]

yeah exactly, doesnt seem all that complicated

[@s.m.9871]

And maybe it was good to have extras on hand. Maybe that’s why there are some with no use showing, they just made extras because if you lost yours or broke yours, you used it for like everything, so having a new one ready to go is a good idea!

[@ShayneWissler]

Not just possible, that is the reasonable conclusion given the evidence presented, notwithstanding the contrary speculations of confused researchers.

[@Mr.Ekshin]

Yeah... you used a hand axe for a while and re-knapped the edge a few times... until it became a knife, and you would use it and re-knap that edge a few times... and when it got too small to be agood knife, it became a spear head... and after a few re-knappings that spear head became an arrow head. So yeah... any decent piece of flint that was roughly hand-axe size was basically a valuable currency for trade.

[@beretperson]

"They were used for a bunch of different things..." "So, kind of like a swiss army knife?" "...but a lot of them didn't show any use at all." "Oh, so EXACTLY like a swiss army knife!"

[@MinuteEarth]

hahahaha

[@Mr.Derp8finity]

​@@MinuteEarth Kurzgesagt explains what the purpose of shaping them like that is pretty well in this video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y4CYnIGGobqJbdk

[@virutech32]

🤣facts

[@TomFJC]

Ha! I kinda miss the one I lost, but not enough to get another one yet. Maybe I'll just carry a big chipped rock in my pocket.

[@kggaming792]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@CinJyxxe]

It would make sense if these were a type of disposable multitool. As another commenter suggested, they are likely extremely easy to make, and with practice, a handaxe could be shaped in just a couple minutes. Stones are heavy and to carry one around at all times would be an inconvenience at best, especially if your clothes didn't have effective pockets for storage. It'd be far more efficient to simply make a new one as needed and leave them behind, rather than always carrying one around. So a handaxe that was made in a living area would get a lot of use and see a ton of wear and tear, whereas one that was made on a hunting trip may only get used once or twice, and not see as much damage before it was abandoned. It would also explain why we find so many - most would have been single-use axes that got left behind after the task was completed.

[@nathanielhubbard9863]

@Collin Carey absolutely criminally underrated comment absolute shame that nobody else saw this and liked it but just know that I see you brother 🫡

[@someguy9597]

According to my archaeology textbook, The Past in Perspective: An Introduction to Human Prehistory, by Kenneth L. Feder, a core could take 25 to 75 strikes with a hammerstone to become an acheulean hand axe. Knapping actually takes a lot of precision and strategy because cores can easily disintegrate if you're not careful with your strikes, especially with pieces with ideal thinnesses similar to the hand axe. All this said, we don't really know how quickly a practiced H. erectus could put one of these out.

[@CinJyxxe]

​@@someguy9597 I mean, even if that seems like a lot of work to us, this would have been a task that every young prehistoric human would have learned and practiced their entire lives. I also feel like archaeologists tend to underestimate how patient ancient humans were. Persistence hunting was part of the skillset - they had very little to gain by rushing anything. Plus, I imagine a bored proto-human would find themselves making tools at random, like carving to pass time.

[@someguy9597]

​@@CinJyxxe Yes, early humans from 1.8m to 250,000 years ago would probably be pretty quick at making tools like these, but we find them mostly in clusters about sites of settlement, rather than diffusely, so that we can see early human populations in semipermanent settlements stockpiling these and making caches of them. I was just reacting to the way you made it seem like these would be made expediently, during periods of high mobility, which we don't have a lot of evidence for.

[@mikeyaustin7526]

​@Some Guy as usual the logical takes gets lost under the buzz of everyone saying what they think

[@masons7769]

I nap arrowheads and ive made many of these. Its a preform for a spearpoint. But sometimes when making them it will chip in a way that is unrecoverable (very common actually) so when that happens you toss it. Or if it is sharp enough to be useful. You use it.

[@laerton4202]

Do you think, it is only a preform tossed aside ? What is your opinion on handaxes in general? Respectfully.

[@springbloom5940]

I too knap and have made many of these completely out of incompetence. I have made a ton of them trying to work gravel. Get a workable edge about ⅔ way around it and get stuck. So it has a bifaced end and a round end.

[@scottgalbraith7461]

I came up with the same solution. Many common failures in different areas maybe. Mel Gibson in the Patriot, his pile of broken chairs in the barn.

[@williamallen2777]

Me to and yes. If you are only using stone tools, even the broken ones are useful

[@mountainmanxyz]

I'm pretty sure the majority of these "mystery tools" are simply unusable pieces that has fractures that cause it to break rather than cleave. I've found plenty of these things, and they all have irregular breaks and micro fractures that make them unsuitable for knapping.

[@InigoDawn]

The markless ones could've been a stash in case their current tool was lost/destroyed. Since there are so many, multi-purpose for barter is also possible

[@Seraphim262]

If they are so easy to produce, why stach them. If they are hard to produce, it seems wasteful to have so many lying around.

[@DudeWithTheNose]

@@Seraphim262 did you even think about the questions you asked or did you just want to argue? Regardless of how easy or difficult they were to produce, these multi-purpose tools were invaluable and it would make sense to have extras on hand/stocked up

[@Seraphim262]

@@DudeWithTheNose And which multipurpose tool do you have, which is invaluable, and it makes sense to have dozens unused lying around? I think it is quite ironic that you accuse me of this claim and then proceed to write a comment like this.

[@thewrecker2974]

@@Seraphim262 well it would be pretty useful to have one lying around rather than having to make a new one

[@colinhamilton3033]

​@@DudeWithTheNose ...Is that true? It's a good question. It's a waste of energy to produce things you don't use, so caches are generally only used when you might need extras at a moment's notice. Otherwise you usually just make new ones as needed. Maybe you keep one extra just in case, but not a lot of extras. Unless they can serve as currency or something and have a use that way

[@argentandroid5732]

I was under the general impression that the handaxe was a multi tool, and the unused ones were a cache held for later. I suppose it would make sense that if they lasted a while, but you still needed to pass on the skill of making them, you would wind up with a rather large number of extras over generations.

[@RovingTroll]

Plus I could easily see humans just chilling somewhere, slamming these things out for fun

[@PunkZombie1300]

​@RovingTroll There's a guy on KZbin (and I think Tik Tok) who makes these and a bunch of other primitive survival gear. Can't remember his name, but he's an older ripped white guy with long white hair and a beard. He basically uses it as a large knife/small axe. I think it might even be able to skin prey, but I might be thinking of an obsidian tool.

[@theaggrokrag]

​@@PunkZombie1300 Donnie Dusts

[@davidnoll9581]

Or they were being traded and the unused ones were inventory?

[@gorilladisco9108]

And if you use it as money, it will create prehistoric inflation. 🤪

[@TheSlackerNamedJack]

2:43 All right, I see you Pokémon fan who works at minute earth. The fact that Lenora exists is a pretty cool acknowledgment and the fact that they remember that she is an archaeologist in Canon is a pretty deep cut for anyone outside the fandom and a lot of people in it

[@fredziffel3443]

As a previously unmentioned possibility... A "Hide Scraper". Used in the preparation of leather goods.

[@lordgbone]

How is this not the number one answer.

[@davidwarren9204]

My father taught me to always carry a short, sturdy knife. He described it as "the tool that can make any other tool". If indeed the early humans all carried a hand axe, then that is almost certainly what it was used for - to make, *or make a tool that could make*, almost anything they needed.

[@primordial_platypus]

@Kevin Hart That may be true but a knife has many more uses as a knife without having to use it to fashion another tool than a file does as a file.

[@nevertakeadayoff]

​@Kevin Hart all wrong

[@claycoates5056]

@Repent and believe in Jesus Christ HUH there is one of these around and they have a poor understanding of the Bible KJV and its poor English that was never used

[@vikitheviki]

​@Kevin Hart If outdoor my choice will always be a knife. Can't see myself 'filing' firewood or a shelter 😂😂

[@Jazzman-bj9fq]

You got it.

[@XionGaTaosenai]

A theory I read in a book once was that these tools were deliberately scattered so that early humans could more or less always have one (or a couple) in close reach without having to occupy their hands carrying them around all the time (since tools like bags that would have let them carry their sharp rocks hands-free hadn't been invented yet), like how squirrels will bury nuts all over the place so that a buried nut is always close by whenever they get hungry. And just like how the vast majority of buried nuts are never unearthed by another squirrel, most of these rocks were put down somewhere but never had a reason to be picked up again - except while an abandoned nut grows into a tree, an abandoned sharp rock just sits there for thousands of years until it's picked up by a confused archaeologist.

[@thekueken]

I like that theory and would think it's reasonable, since not only may any bag-like accessories been relatively rare, but we are talking about a solid stone - which has a certain weight. And that's also sharp. Even with a bag it may have caused more trouble to constantly carry it around than making several of them and leaving them around where needed. Maybe whenever they carried them, they also got lost relatively easily (sharp edge cutting through any bag or pocket) and therefore they made plenty spares? I'd think that it was an incredibly useful tool to have, when you needed it. But maybe not everyone would need it all the time, or at all (using more specialized, but much less durable and therefor not preserved items from surrounding nature). ...it may be just a silly everyday "mystery", like how we end up with a stash of single-socks in our drawers... (ultimately a simple and [not necessarily] practical reason behind it, but just a thing that happened due to circumstance and other [maybe not even obviously related] influences. (imagine a future archeologist find one of those drawers and single /unmatched sock stashes...)

[@cleanerben9636]

I like this proposal as well. I mean, once it's shaped you have a sharp rock. It would take centuries of weathering to make it unusable so just leaving them in places you might need them is a good idea.

[@gameplaysuffering1620]

my theory is that a tribe or group once found a small stash left from other tribe that either moved or died to predators/disease maybe even a rival tribe and figured it was a good idea to make as many as they could and leave them for other humans to use or even for their own use if they rotated their caves while they were still nomads. It was probably at some point the highest form of technology we had and sharing it makes sense and would better relation between groups. It could also be used as a signal that humans used to live in a place to other humans.

[@bradarmstrong3952]

Just how I use reading glasses: I buy a bunch and scatter them around my environment so a pair is always nearby when I need it ...

[@markhardwick8032]

Yeah sounds feasible Especially as I doubt they had same sense of property ownership like we do now So, even if another tribe came across some they may just use and leave too Funny it’s like those scooters and e-bikes now lol

[@user-py1ur4dm3o]

I speculate that people used it to teach others to makes tools. That is why it was fit for and used for so many things. The marks were from demonstrations.

[@swissmaidalways4780]

I found one at a Utah salt deposit, so definitely a scrapping tool since salt was used to cure the hides. Fit my hand perfectly

[@ezemarkel]

99% chance you probably guessed what the tool was for in this video

[@spacegordonramsay2486]

General use multi tool regularly either resharpened or kept in stashes for when one was broken.

[@CodyAdams-pf9un]

Anal scraper outter

[@freedustin]

Obviously its a guitar pick for their ancient stone guitars.

[@6023barath]

They were truly the pioneers of rock music. All was well until the Iron Age took over with its heavy metal stuff.

[@giannapple]

What’s the best tone stone for fretboards?

[@JorgeL721]

This comment rocks. They must have been in the band ACBC

[@garymartin9777]

@@JorgeL721 Or maybe Stone Temple Pilots.

[@354sd]

Rockabilly

[@taowroland8697]

I've found 4 of these on my property over the years, in making a couple of my own, my intuition on them is that they were a quick tool to make that would enable the person to scrape animal hides or provide a handy tool for general purpose camp uses. Notching wood, shucking bark off willow branches, etc. They can also be made with most flaking stone, unlike more complex tools like knives which can only be made out of a handful of stones, which aren't readily available in all areas. I can make one in under 2 minutes that is physically comparable, as opposed to an obsidian knife which can take a couple hours, and which is liable to breaking due to delicate edges. Another key aspect is that, unlike knives, these tools can be made from almost any river cobble, which is why they're so numerous.

[@squidvis]

Yeah I was thinking it's the ancient equivalent of the cheap pocket knife. Something small and easy to carry that can handle most tasks, but it's not that big a deal if you lose it cuz it's easy to make aka "cheap"

[@johnbowman476]

Found one digging in the yard of my rented apartment in Los Angeles made out of chert. I agree that it'd be perfect for hide scraping.

[@gold_leaf0702]

Easy to make out of readily available stone? Sounds like good fodder for a parent to teach a child how to make a tool.

[@Andy-il7kf]

Kinda like a single-use, throw away type philosophy ... sounds like my genus all right

[@joleylight300]

I would have to agree with this. Find loads of them around areas you could tell they had camped.

[@RikaRoleplay]

Also some tasks you want to keep seperate, like one for food, one for digging, etc. This tool sounds very useful, people likely had many by practicing making them in their downtime and passing the knowledge around.

[@betsybarnicle8016]

I found and saved one of these tools - looks exactly like that. It even has an indentation right where a thumb would hold it.

[@marcz2903]

Maybe they're leftovers from people learning knapping. Sort of a first project for inexperienced knappers that produces something useful. In high school, my shop teacher had us learn to use the jigsaw by having us each make three push sticks for use on a table saw, so he always had a supply of them and didn't have to make them himself. Maybe the mystery tool was something similar. You learn flint knapping, and your first project to get you familiar with the process is to make three caveman army knives. Now the tribe has a good supply of army knives, and you learned the fundamentals of flint knapping. Ötzi had a knife that archeologists determined was initially crafted by an expert knapper, then maintained by someone with significantly less skill. He also had a pressure flaker, as well as some stone flakes, so he was clearly maintaining his own equipment, but wasn't an expert. It makes sense that everyone would know at least how to maintain their own equipment. If you're out hunting and you fall and break your knife, you'll know how to make a serviceable one until you get back to camp and can get a replacement. If every child, or even just the male children, learns the basics of knapping and has to make a few army knives, you'd end up with a whole stash of them, and you wouldn't go through them too fast because everyone is maintaining their own.

[@thePronto]

Agreed. There's also the guy who is crap at hunting, but good at knapping and has a secret flint stash. He trades his 'product' for food, etc. He tries making different shapes, but doesn't get much interest. So that tool design is like the Model T Ford: simple, quick to make, and more popular than other models.

[@danilooliveira6580]

that is exactly what I was thinking, and its not even need to be people learning. people that know how to make them may be more demanding on the shape off their rocks, so if they make one that they don't like they can make another one.

[@iota-09]

My firt thought as well, knapping is hard af and surely nobody is born learned, much less prehistoric people, so where did all yye failed attempts at knapping go?

[@amandasunshine2]

Exactly, it seems like they're ignoring how humans often behave in groups. Currently we have pointless construction projects ongoing all over the world just to give people jobs. Are future archeologists going to dig up these roads to nowhere and unused buildings and make similar assumptions?

[@Gwydda]

​@@amandasunshine2 Most likely it's not being ignored if thousands of scientists and laypeople have been wondering about this topic for decades. It's just that not everything fits into a five minute video.

[@BlackSeranna]

As a kid I found a few of these and I carried my favorite one in my pocket. I used it for all sorts of stuff - I could cut thread with it, or when I went exploring around the farm, I could use it to cut branches or use it to dig. I was about 9 years old, a girl, and this small tool allowed me to do the same stuff my older brothers did (except they had pocket knives).

[@regularfather4708]

I actually love that. I enjoy using things made by people long past. I can only imagine the joy of using a tool gifted to me by my ancestor from tens of thousands of years ago.

[@gorilladisco9108]

And they have edge over you. 😃

[@rickeykoga2312]

So badass!

[@trumpisthemessiah7017]

exactly. it was just the knife of the time... and still I guess. lol

[@customsongmaker]

So it was for women

[@ThatGuy-sf1cx]

That's a stone knapping hammer. It was a tool used to make other stone tools, meaning that is was used less often than things like spears or knives, but important enough that every other person would have one just lying around. It would also explain the strange patterns, as grinding, hammering, and cutting/chopping motions would have been utilized to make other stone tools.

[@cliftonwhittaker260]

I have one of those stones that I found near the Red River in TN. There were lots of chips, flakes and broken points in that area. I always thought it was used primarily as a scraper. Dressing animal hides takes a lot of scraping over a period of time to remove the fat and residue and probably more than one person worked on a deer or buffalo hide at one time. These would probably have been the wives of the hunters along with prisoners or captive slaves if any were available. There was a lot of scraping going on all the time to provide food and clothing for the tribe.

[@zman8z8]

Could it be that when the right type of rock was found, as many of these were made as opportunistically possible, and then put to the side until they were needed? Eventually just being left behind or forgotten when it came time to move?

[@amandasunshine2]

Exactly, I'm thinking about human behavior, how we would've treated such a useful tool. We would've made more than we needed 🤷‍♀️

[@notyrpapa]

If they’re flint, then it’s quite a common rock - the kind of thing you come across in many types of places. Though not necessarily all, so maybe? I wonder if it might also be that we find that ones that weren’t broken beyond repair because a) when you’ve used a tool enough that it’s unusable, it no longer looks like a tool b) maybe when a tool met its end of life there was a ritual like smashing it up. So the only ones we would find would be the new ones, ready to use, or those with light use/lost during use.

[@BasicEndjo]

@@notyrpapa you are overthinking

[@zman8z8]

@@notyrpapa Thats a great point, like a kind of archeological survivorship bias.

[@notyrpapa]

@@BasicEndjo 😅 humans do some weird sh* - can you imagine not knowing about tombs and suddenly discovering an underground room full of riches and a dead body? We make strange rituals for all sorts of things! Clinking glasses together to celebrate 🥂 or crushing crockery at weddings. Things will have changed over time and it's may be impossible to know, but it sure is fun to speculate!

[@MsZeeZed]

Maybe it was a “My First Tool” given as a gift for surviving infancy. You grow up and might no longer need it & pass it on if its still in good shape, while others held on to it through their adult lives for sentimental reasons. People have always been people I think 😹

[@MsZeeZed]

In this scenario its kind of a craft knife for making other tools. What you decide to use it for has some impact on your role in society was my implication. Plus making one could be a rite of successful parenthood?

[@BastiatC]

earliest evidence of fathers day.

[@adrianblake8876]

Or maybe it wss the only tool they'd ever have, but everyone had one. Which may do a better job explaining why we find so much. Like mobile phones today, everyone has one, and you cycle through them every few years...

[@amandasunshine2]

Literally my thoughts

[@fodkfkdkfkfkfjfjfj]

@@adrianblake8876 I don’t have a phone

[@user-zu8vc5ef6w]

The drawing here is not just beautiful but also is really helpful!

[@florb0413]

It makes sense to me that they’d just be simple multi-tools, but they’re so simple and easy to make that people made a bunch that never got used or just made them to pass the time.

[@evanlucas8914]

I think this was your "first tool" kind of project. Like you're a neolithic child and you're finally old enough so your dad starts showing you essential skills. This is big chunky project is easy to make for unskilled hands and helps train the shaping of both sharp and rounded sides. You made one or two of these things as you figured out the technique each one better than the last. Finally you make one good enough and your dad shows you how to make something more intricate like a spear point or double edged knife. But all the while you keep the best attempt at your first project and end up using the crap out of it. All the while your imperfect attempts are just thrown away.

[@Albanus15]

I agree, when i started making stone tools for fun this is the shape i ended up with, later i learned in an archeology channel that it was very similar to the acheulean points.

[@vickie213]

That's an interesting theory

[@guacre2675]

​@Albanus15 Haha okay that's very interesting

[@scottlund4562]

Looks like what my preteen daughters knapped the first time they really tried on a piece of greywack.

[@ChrisWMF]

I think you may be onto something. My guess would be it's something like that but like a failed tool that can still be used for stuff like gathering cutting or scraping hides. Perhaps much of the time they were just thrown aside and forgotten but some of these castaways would be picked up and used for the above things. Maybe a flint knappers first projects were meant to be things that were easier to make such as knives or scrapers. But as their skill improved they were trained to make arrowheads. I've done flint knapping in the past and it's pretty easy to make a sideways sharp tool, but a lot harder to make a symmetrical arrowhead.

[@Zaroth66]

It's a pretty good multi purpose tool that looks relatively easy to create, there's probably a ton extra from teaching the kids to make them

[@floridadad2817]

Makes sense that it’s prehistoric EDC. If you’re a hunter/gatherer it makes sense to have something that could hunt and gather anything that randomly showed up.

[@Earthstar_Review]

I appreciate mentioning the possibility that they're cores, left over from knapping. That's one I guessed was the source of them in the first place, but this handily explains why that's not the case.

[@cambriahaley1013]

Archaeologist here. They were used for various activities but are also a preform. The size and shape make it easy to work down into different types of tools you might need. Also working them down into this basic shape makes the stone easy to transport. There are many places that do not have stone with a high enough silica content to make stone tools. So people would find sources and make small pieces to transport home or trade with neighboring tribes.

[@jimgolab536]

What do you and others think of William Calvin’s idea, in The Throwing Madonna: Essays on the Brain (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1983. Update 1991 by Bantam.)

[@joeldavidfranklin]

Have any been found in the Americas?

[@Mike28625]

That's clever. Create a generic tool that requires constant replacement but works right out of the box and it's also the blank for whatever custom tool you need and also a trade commodity. The generic hand axe was the iPhone of it's age.

[@SaturnaliaJones]

Like an ancient Swiss Army Knife

[@lewisgann280]

@@Mike28625 it really is pretty damn clever. I was definitely impressed at the precast tool blanks part, that’s ingenious and incredibly useful.

[@hanswoast7]

Maybe it's a universal tool, but also a universal present. So popular people can stack them as status symbol and never use them, but poor people used them right away.

[@MinuteEarth]

ooh interesting

[@brickmack]

The concept of "wealth" doesn't really work at this stage of civilization though, not until the idea of private (rather than personal) property is established as well as employment (and all the economic and legal tooling required for both to actually be workable at scale). Without those, an individual's wealth is limited to what they personally can make and physically defend, rather than multiplying their wealth generation by having others work for them or from assets like land ownership

[@petersmythe6462]

There weren't really poor and rich people in the same society most likely. Everything we know about primitive societies says they were high egalitarian until settlement and agriculture.

[@petersmythe6462]

There might be poor and wealthy bands, but not poor and wealthy individuals. And overall, as far as we can tell people were quite well off but had little ability to hoard or retain wealth.

[@user-et2dx5du7e]

perhaps they offered it to eldery people for some information

[@johnbiela9442]

There was a video of an archeologist showing how these stone tools were made. As the video went on, his hands were covered in bandaids. Always wondered which pharmacy ancient humans got their bandaids.

[@This-time-more-than-ever]

They were a roughly formed pre arrow head, carried to be able to make arrowheads more quickly when needed as the point often broke when carried as fully made points. Also used for trade.

[@Delta6ICU]

I'm surprised nobody thought these could be the result of practice. Any refined technique such as flint knapping requires a ton of practice to perfect. One would think there would be many practice pieces compared to competently finished ones.

[@thechronic555]

Yea i imagine they had more free time before tv and internet 😅

[@NS-hs6lt]

I’m some areas flint was more scarce. It would be interesting to see if the used ones were in the more scarce areas.

[@edswope28]

The stockpiled ones could be partially finished ones. Laying ready to be fine tuned and finished according the to use they intended to put that particular one to. Or according to the personal preference of the user who needs a new tool. To us, there may not be a significant difference in them. To the people using them, differences we dont even notice may be pretty big.

[@Frag-ile]

That was my thought, they're failures from practice or simply subpar tools used temporarily until they managed to make a better one. Would also fit with why so many had no hints of wear while others had little and few had a lot. Bad tools gets replaced quickly, good ones gets used until worn out.

[@Delta6ICU]

I can see a father telling his son, yeah that's a good one. you could probably cut a weed with that. You have to learn somehow, and the best way is doing it.

[@benmcreynolds8581]

I think it's pretty clear that these were essential to these people. Think of the range of tasks they could do? Think about all the different ways they could make them. They had to be so helpful.

[@Harry_Bahlzanya]

Especially during the nomadic times of humans when carrying literal razor sharp rocks was not only heavy but dangerous it could cut your clothing your pelts or even your bags I think its fairly obvious but people are searching for some grand answer that simply isn't there

[@joleylight300]

Quick multi tool of the day.

[@skeletordanzig4999]

my first thought

[@loriki8766]

Definitely an ancient swiss army knife. Different people needed it for different things. They were probably given as gifts. I have a set of knife that I cut with. When my kids lived at home, they'd use them as screwdrivers and then deny it 😐. Some of my knives are rarely used and freshly sharpened. Others I use all the time. It's the same with this ancient tool - it was good for many things - it was used for many things. Some of those things we've figured out - others we haven't.

[@tubeyou6794]

dude you can use it for anywthing wtf. how stupid are theese archeologists GOD DAMN

[@izuela7677]

A basic currency for trading, maybe? A piece of flint that had been trimmed down enough to prove it was not a chalky dud and could be further shaped into a specialized tool. And subsequently had a pretty stable value as flint tools were used by everyone and needed to be replaced consistently.

[@ryhol5417]

I imagine people going through the scrap pile grabbing stuff like “these people are so wasteful tossing out perfectly good stuff “

[@puffer_frog]

My hypothesis: knapping these tools could be one of their ways to pass time, especially in periods of the day where its too hot to go out to hunt, or when they already finished their duties. It could also be leftovers from masters teaching their apprentices on how to make such tools or people trying to hone their craft, leading to a lot of spares.

[@lamesurfer1015]

I totally agree with this take. It's like whittling sharpened sticks with buddies when you're just sitting around in the woods...

[@blacksquirrel4008]

@@lamesurfer1015just what I was going to say

[@didamnesia3575]

Stop with the human behavior explanations. 😆 🤣 they were obviously God stones for worshipping their unknown diety. 🤣 🤣 🤣

[@jamessims5043]

It was a multi tool. The reason there are so many is because flint knapping isn't that easy, and if you mess one up, you toss it and start over with a fresh one. I'd be interested in seeing one released from an ancient sling shot.

[@thekingofcats27]

It would probably be easier to test with a sling staff instead of finding some guy that has practiced enough to use a sling with a tool of that size

[@ethribin4188]

It was a knife. A primitive version of a knife

[@mountainmanxyz]

I've found several of these over the years, but i always found them at distinct quarry and work sites where knapping took place. I figured they were (as the video mentions) a core from which smaller pieces were knapped from, but also thought it is likely that they were failed attempts at making a tool, whereas the ones I've found seem to have irregular fractures and would not cleave as the artisan intended, so they got tossed aside. I would find them in piles of chips like they were discarded as waste.

[@MrBrineplays_]

Rocks have been known for notoriously confusing archeologists to death.

[@sa0dhar]

Maybe they really were a universal tools also used as currency - because it's always handy to have some spares of such a useful thing. :) And stockpiling them could be a symbol of a hard-working person.

[@Detahramet]

Stockpiling them would also be a social status symbol, marking you as someone capable amassing what may have been considered wealth to them.

[@Pindrop22]

That’s exactly the thought I had

[@mreese8764]

Lythocoins with proof of work. Can be used whole or broken down to smaller tools.

[@mreese8764]

They become currency automatically. Some guy has the material and the skills and keeps making them to give away in exchange for goods. But then he has some spare that could not be sold and walks around with them to give away later. He stashes them because they are heavy. And now we find them.

[@bosstowndynamics5488]

That makes more sense to me at least than the pure currency theory - I suspect stone age humans had no interest in something as abstract as pure currency that has no direct use, and without the complex large group social structures driven by agriculture and subsequent large volume food storage there's not much need to develop such an interest either

[@nicklarocco4178]

It's a pretty widely accepted theory that the longer back you go in human history the fewer specific tools you find, and the more universal tools become more common. Seems like a universal tool that was made in such large quantities so as to have a store of them, just in case. Could be a useful trade item as well, flint and obsidian are much more common in certain parts of the world than in others. Really the only mystery is why they made so many.

[@andmicbro1]

I would think one would be craftsmen making more than they needed to use for bartering with people who weren't as skilled at making them, but still needed a tool. The other part of that could be as specialized tools rose in popularity, these multi tools would be needed less and less, so we start to see ones already made, but unused, get left behind, and lightly used ones as people shift to other tools that are more purpose made for a single task, but do it much more efficiently. Sort of like why you can still kind of buy a new DeLorean in 2023, because we have a factory full of old brand new parts.

[@Android-dg5ri]

you have to learn how to make them and practice makes perfect

[@underarmbowlingincidentof1981]

Maybe its like these 'mysterious' stone spheres in middle american where the most reasonable answer is that it was a show of talent by the carver. Also I can imagine them sitting under a tree during a rainy day and just trying to outcompete each other in tool making. Humans have always been weird... its pretty funny.

[@Straline.]

Possibly so they could always have one with them. Think, squirrels hiding nuts. Or it was just that they had different ones for different tasks. Or maybe they just always wanted backups nearby because it would easily chip.

[@jdos2]

I like the idea that it was just a do-it-all tool, like a plumbus. Everyone has one, everyone uses it as needed.

[@Existingexistingly]

"Ha imagine if he calls it a swiss army knife" "Ancient humans used the tool like a swiss army kife"

[@plumtree1846]

Reminds me of pre-forms/blanks found in caches. I gather chert/flint from ancient quarries in central Ohio. Good chert is hard to find and when making pre-forms/blanks, 80 percent is often waste. So, the finished pre-forms/blanks are valuable and make good trade items (and lighter than carrying a big unfinished block). You need to knap/chip them into the basic form. This reveals the quality of the chert so everyone knows its true value during a trade.

[@jjano2320]

Makes sense. I heard arrowheads are more scarce in some areas because they were more careful about not losing the scarce flint.

[@agrajyadav2951]

Archaeology in Ohio

[@ireallyreallyhategoogle]

Sounds right.

[@Vendavalez]

I think that part of the story is perfectly clear to anyone who has needed a multi tool on a regular basis for any period of time. You keep one on your person at all times, you give it all the maintenance you can until it doesn’t make any sense to, and you keep one (at least) at home or a safe place for when that moment comes.

[@taiyoqun]

Except that you can make one fast from nothing and you don't have any pockets, so if you're on the field and you need your multi tool you're more likely to make one than go back. Kinda like buying boxcutters. You have one with five years of gunk and abuse and you have twenty brand new ones you bought for a one-off scattered around the shop, the car, the house, one on the garden and one on the kitchen. So when future archeologists find your collection of boxcutters they'll be really confused about what you used them for.

[@ashleeknowlton5805]

​@@taiyoqunbased on another guy's comment who said they were really easy to make, I suspect this is probably true.

[@The_Arisen]

​@@taiyoqunif you're making tools, you're absolutely making rudimentary fanny packs out of hide, or even just woven grasses/branches. Granted, it was a long time until humans developed these techniques, but they've been around for longer than most would think, with pre-homo sapiens (I forget the exact species) making needles out of bone.

[@victormartins247]

My dad often goes hunting in the mountains and his family and locals in the area worked the fields there too. Everyone has a knife. He explains: without a knife, you don't eat. You can do without a fork, spoon or anything else, but the knife is essential and not just for handling food out in the wild

[@campingintheforest_]

They made extras for the same reason we have stores with stuff sitting on the shelves, waiting to be used...Trade Items.

[@KingTemplarDragon]

If it's the oldest. That probably means it was infact used as a multitool. Since early humans wouldn't know what specialized shape woulf get it done faster. I also assume they would be pretty tough to make, and it was easier to just take care of your tool, rather then make another.

[@lzl4226]

They were not, the Oldowan tool, a simpler but also consistent hand axe, pre-dates it for about a million years. It was probably carried around by some Australopithecus, which pre-dates homo erectus, and even homo habilis, who also carried them around. Basically those things go way back, before the homo branch was even defined as the homo branch..... and then before that there were even simpler smasher and slicer tools.....

[@lzl4226]

And yes, they were not easy to make, if a person today were not taught the technique, they would probably not be able to make one... or at least it would take a very long time to work out. It requires you to chip away from a stone core, that has to be of a certain type of material, then you give it a final blow so a very sharp piece splits off which is your tool. Some that were made from volcanic rock (obsidian) were sharper than modern day surgical knifes. So yes.... cutting would be one use for sure

[@VikingTeddy]

Iirc, back in the day some museums would label things ritualistic at a drop of a hat if they didn't know what it was. Archaeologist 1: Look at this artifact we just uncovered! What do you think it was used for? Archaeologist 2: Hmm, it's hard to say. Maybe it was a tool or some kind of weapon. A1: No way, this is clearly a ritualistic object. I bet it was used for some kind of sacred ceremony. A2: Really? What makes you say that? A1: Well, just look at the way it's shaped. It's clearly designed to channel spiritual energy. A2: Spiritual e... Are you serious? Its obviously some kind of tool. A1: Absolutely not. I bet it was used in a ceremony to summon the gods. A2: Oh, okay. And how exactly did they summon the gods with this thing? A1: Well, they probably filled it with sacrificial blood and then spun it around their heads while chanting. A 2: You're kidding, right? A1: No, I'm completely serious. And I bet they also used it to ward off evil spirits by throwing it at them. A2: Y.. You think this thing was used to throw at evil spirits? A1: It's ritualistic I say. A2 : But it clearly has a A1: Ritualistic!

[@HrafnirKrumr]

There was such a thing called "trade iron" - metal blanks, tapered and with a hole in them. They were made specifically for trade because in such a way you can show that the metal is refined and can be used for forging. Any smith was used to work with them, turning the blanks into axes, knives, spears, sickles etc. The handaxe looks a lot like trade iron to me. You take it whenever you need it and shape it into a spear or a knife or a scraper. Also it looks like handaxe is a good object to craft when you are learning flintknapping, so they can be made in quantities when new knappers are educated.

[@simongross3122]

If they were made for trade, there would be lots of them found in areas where the materials they were made from do not exist. Otherwise why would anyone trade for them?

[@HrafnirKrumr]

@@simongross3122 I was not specifically saying these were trade objects, more like universal blanks for many tools. Blanks are better than rocks, easier to carry around. Also when the handaxe was used and turned into something, you can't find it right? So it would be logical to find them where they are made.

[@simongross3122]

@@HrafnirKrumr That makes a lot of sense. Thank you for clarifying

[@G53X0Y0Z0]

I can't say with any certainty what the main purpose was for these pieces that were the subject of this video, but people did in fact make what are referred to as "preforms". Rocks are heavy, and there is a high percentage of waste turning rocks into finished tools, and these people did not have the luxury of vehicles and few had beasts of burden to carry their loads. They would work the lithic material into preforms at quarries or collecting sites. They are kind of like milling trees into boards, then later the boards are used to make a finished product.

[@_wayward_494]

​@NRGY simple mind satisfied with simple explanation

[@sparkywilson1405]

Imagine future archaeologists found modern multitools and they got confused because "wait, this part looks like it could be used as a saw! but there's no wear on the teeth, so it MUST have been used for something else."

[@tapanisydanmetsa6714]

Currency, of course! The multipurpose tool was an important item and many hours of work was "storaged" in one such. But it was also relatively easy to carry with on a "shopping tour", even larger amount of them.

[@echorome6260]

"We looked at a rock with a sharp side and a side that fits nicely in your hand. Not all of them had identical wear patterns. Therefore, they were used for a mysterious and secret purpose lost to time. Truly one of the most elusive mysteries of archaeology."

[@N8Dulcimer]

Couldn't help but laugh at the 'different wear patterns' part. The narrator was describing multiple different tools. It's not some mystery tool, the narrator has just chosen to define it too vaguely. They created a definition of "sharp tool with rounded side to hold" found knives, axes, pounders, punches, etc that technically fall into that category and then acted mystified that one tool could be used for so many things.

[@Vamilator7165]

Because it's not the narrators job to make any guesses. Minuteearth acts as conduits for knowledge, taking facts that exists and convey them to us. They don't theorize or make conclusions because that is not their job nor do they pretend it is.

[@N8Dulcimer]

@@Vamilator7165 They make the assertion that the plethora of different objects are all the same thing. They obviously aren't, he just pretended they are to make it more mysterious. This video is titled "Humans Made Millions of These - We Don't Know Why" if "these" refers to stone tools that are sharp on one side and round on the other, then we definitely know why. To cut and break things. The narrator deliberately misrepresents our knowledge to make it seem cryptic.

[@Vamilator7165]

No he did not. Again, he just conveyed knowledge that existed. Scientists/archeologists don't know what these are and minuteearth informed us of this fact. Unlike you

[@N8Dulcimer]

@@Vamilator7165 I have studied primitive skills for quite a long time, and I own several books describing processes to flint knap chopping, puncturing, slicing, and scraping tools that would all count as the 'mystery tool.' I can guarantee you that both scientists and archaeologists know what these tools were for. It's not some 'lost knowledge.' People still make these same tools today.

[@thedingo6577]

Also casting my vote for the unused ones being spares. When archeologists find Swiss-Army knives still in their plastic packaging in 5000 years, we'd think they were crazy for assuming some of the knives were used for attracting mates and as currency. If it's easy to make, it can be easy to break. Maybe the cave has a guy named Grug who can churn out like 10 handaxes a day. Me remember time before metalworking, when rock was good.

[@thereaction18]

The unblemished samples are unsold inventory the MyRock guy couldn't unload after Rocks News fired Tucker Carlstone.

[@thedingo6577]

@@thereaction18 Me remember when Rocks News first started yelling in direct response to the Cave News Network back in the 1990's (BC). All news just platform for big man to yell loudest.

[@thereaction18]

@@thedingo6577 Sometimes me regret ever watching shadows on cave wall. Why we invent fire? Maybe coming out of trees bad idea in first place.

[@thedingo6577]

@@thereaction18 me also want tribe return to monke. Was pure ooga booga in those times...and agriculture give Grug headache--Why weird tiny rocks make plants grow? Me no understand modern living.

[@thereaction18]

@@thedingo6577 And Cave Owner Association makes me cut plants small again when them grow! All my sharp rocks constantly wearing down!

[@Hungry_Tree_Ghost]

Best way to find out is to send a group of people into the wilderness for years to live off the land without modern tools, and see if they come about making those. Then you can ask them why.

[@wanderingbufoon]

One day, archeologists will find our messed up phones. Then they will assume it was used for something heavy duty. Then theyll unearth a ton of undamaged ones and be too confused.

[@notfunny3397]

Is the woman at 2:44 the one from Pokémon gen 5? That's a pretty cool Easter egg I think

[@PickPig]

gotta be lenora, makes sense since she runs the museum/is an archaeologist

[@PHiLLy2c]

Definitely is

[@Hellooo134]

Have there been deeper analyses into the differences between the worn down tools and the ones without wear? Maybe the ones without wear were just subpar and didn’t get used much

[@MinuteEarth]

They're doing that at NYU now!

[@TheSpiralProgression]

They were probably a stash of extra ones

[@Poodle_Gun]

They probably lost their edge after awhile.

[@rocketRobScott]

One tribe got so good at making multi-tools, that this was all they did - and they opened the first retail store … about a million years ago. They also employed the first traveling salesmen. That’s my guess.

[@71kimg]

I presume for flint tools - you would try to resharpen until it becomes too small - so you are left with something like the leftovers (like pencil leftover)

[@Temtatork]

I can imagine a prehistoric salesman promoting the "All in one" a neat rock that you can use for wathever you want, cut, dig, smash or as a nice "jewel", perfect for yourself to be gifted or interchanged for goods or services, even collect them all and have a nice collection in your cave!

[@MinuteEarth]

A cave-to-cave Willy Loman type :)

[@LimeyLassen]

I think your "salesman" idea is right, because not all rocks are suitable for making tools out of. People living near rich quarries could make a living making and trading fine equipment. There is evidence of these items traveling very long distances, suggesting trade routes.

[@markfinley3703]

"New from RockCo! But wait!! There's more!!!"

[@kaylor87]

I think they probably used these tools to open their Amazon packages, since they didn't have pocket knives back then.

[@Aut0KAD]

the answer is simple: the reason why some tools showed no marks is because they weren't used 'yet'. its not like you can stop by a CVS and pick some up, so you needed spare tools for when your tool breaks / gets lost.

[@guidosalescalvano9862]

I can imagine they were used as tools first, and then also as currency, and then primarily as currency.

[@sylv_ain]

or it's a Palaeolithic Swiss army knife and was so useful they had plenty in stock just in case. Just like our knifes in stores that are brand knew but are still knives at the end of the day

[@MinuteEarth]

Interesting idea! But what happened such that they weren't ever used?

[@iamdanieloliveira]

@@MinuteEarth Maybe they were defective and the manufacturer had to issue a callback

[@hanswoast7]

@@iamdanieloliveira Maybe they were worth more in original packaging? A speculative collectors dream.

[@bytesandbikes]

Maybe it was easy to make it wrong, and we're seeing the bad ones. The good ones got used to oblivion?

[@user-yy5xs6xj7r]

@@MinuteEarth Maybe the tribe that made them migrated away and decided to take only the best tools to travel unencumbered. Or maybe the tribe died out because of famine, plague, predators, enemies or some other reasons, and these tools weren't found by other tribes. Or maybe the tribe made so many of these tools that they discovered new more advanced tools before they depleated their stock.

[@AndyLowe]

Everything you said perfectly describes a modern day pocket knife or "EDC" knife including their being many with no signs of use. A knife a vital tool for working men; even more so for outdoorsman. If I had to live a stone age life with flint knifes, I would keep four or five of them on me at all time. I would have a range of sharpness levels / shapes for different jobs. Flint knifes break and dull very easily so I would have 10s or 100s of spares in my home. I would make them for practice / art / competition in the long dark winter nights. I would tell my son that the first thousand he made were not fit to use as hoes and I would probably be right. You would find them everywhere I went because even today, with pockets, I still loose knifes constantly. I have purchased a knife, carried it into the woods, used it once without so much as rolling the edge over, and left it there. I'm betting my 37xgreat grand dad was just as dumb as I am. With 1000's of generations of great grandads running around randomly dropping their flint knife everywhere, I would be surprised if I dug and didn't find one.

[@gonagain]

Bingo.

[@matthewstubblefield4782]

Yup

[@pakde8002]

If you were nomadic it's more likely you would drag a lot of stone tools everywhere but would make a quick tool to get the job done and then toss the tool when it's time to move on.

[@devinoakley4063]

They probably found so many in good condition all over the world because it was simply easier to drop it there and carry something heavy back and make another later...

[@MeepChangeling]

No you wouldn't. YOu're an outdoorsman and thus incapable of carrying more than ~0.00002 oz at a time. If you tried to carry anything with mass when out backpacking around the woods... IDK the sun would explode or something. Those stone tools are easily a pound each. It just wouldn't happen.

[@thefallencat2080]

Honestly just seems like they are fun to make. I'd totally see myself chipping away at rocks making them sharp during down time.

[@scottnunnemaker5209]

They probably made a lot of these tools, and kept around some blanks that could then be given more specific edges later as they needed them.

[@Crazybawrks]

2:49 Unova reference

[@Fallkhar]

Fidget spinners are really gonna send future archeologists into fits

[@roostershooter76]

Art Gerber found hundreds of these at the Crib Mound in southern Indiana. They’re cache blades. Preforms use to work away the useless material of the material, and preserve the good material so they didn’t have to transport wasted weight back to camp.

[@user-mw8to4ng9i]

It was probably a learning stone. When people were teaching others to flint knap, they may have been instructed to make these for practice, since it could incorporate different skills and techniques, that would be useful in making a variety of tools.

[@kylefinnegan4608]

"Why'd you make that" "I'm bored"

[@donatoliotino1872]

Probably a Swiss Army knife, but people lost them frequently so they didn’t get used enough to have noticeable damage from use.

[@foxwaffles]

This is actually incredibly realistic. I have probably 10+ scissors around the house because I am always losing them 😅

[@PrinceAbubu59]

As a kid I used to make/search similar shape stones to dig holes...

[@curseofsasuke]

As soon as I saw the tool I thought- that would be great for digging! Anyone out on the woods would say the same. And of course it very well could’ve been used for so many different tasks. That’s why you find them everywhere.

[@sarahkendle7564]

I have found a lot of flint tools on my dog walks in the countryside, I now have a small collection of them. I always presumed they were for scraping off hide, skin or flesh from the bone so it's interesting to hear that there were possibly other ways they were used.

[@jeffgray4075]

This was my thought.

[@Detahramet]

Shot in the dark, they emerged as a quirk of human psychology that just happened to either emerge independently or come from a common cultural ancestor, and later (possibly shortly later) it was applied to other uses. Humans like their symmetry, maybe someone chipped a rock in a pretty shape and figured "oh hey, this is better than that other rock I was using, and its prettier!"

[@MinuteEarth]

This idea was actually pretty popular for a while!

[@freedustin]

2 words: Butt Scratcher.

[@danilooliveira6580]

its important to consider that other primates also like using rocks as tools, its not much of a leap to imagine them realizing they can give them a sharp edge and don't need to find rocks that are naturally sharp.

[@BasicEndjo]

@@danilooliveira6580 so we used to give monkeys sharp rocks, i read your comment very quickly

[@petersmythe6462]

These are too advanced to have been created accidentally. proto-Oldowan style tools can be created as a byproduct of hammer and anvil. Other apes and monkeys usually do not use them, instead trying to avoid breaking their anvils and discarding any sharp flakes produced, although Capuchins have been documented to spontaneously and deliberately produce sharp stone flakes in captivity and use them to cut open plastic containers. Humans and Australopithecines are the only known animals to deliberately manufacture flakes at scale, and there is yet to be evidence of a member of genus homo which didn't use these tools or more advanced ones. However, the tools shown here are not Oldowan but much more sophisticated objects that require some degree of expertise to manufacture. These are restricted to Homo Erectus and above, and are not present among many early branches of Homo Erectus in Asia.

[@nicklockard]

I think mainly for scraping useable meat and fat from hides, but also as a multi-tool, especially for cooking: used as a spreader for cooking operations, like a butter knife; for making pastes, grinding herbs against leather or a palm in order to stretch limited seasonings. Maybe also a pair could be used in scissor style to cut or tear hard things like leather.

[@CheerfuEntropy]

so it makes sense that a tool that was useful for everything might have been a natural trade good as that is a pretty decent way to represent "value" as a concept. We know people traded flint nodules, so before really intricate flint tools were the norm, if one trader showed up with a basket of nodules and another showed up with a basket of pre made hand axes, it makes sense to trade for the axes.

[@scottishguard]

When I majored in Archaeology and Paleoanthropology twenty years ago, we were taught that it was a combination tool (hand axe/trowel)

[@ThubanDraconis]

My guess would be all of the above. When you find a chunk of chert and go to shape it into something like a spearpoint you will lose something like 90% of the material. That makes trading in flint, when everything is transported by foot, rather difficult. So, you create some preforms that shape the flint down to an intermediate state making it easier and more efficient to transport. And if that shape is also useful as a tool then great. In short I would speculate that this particular shape was useful both as a tool and could easily be broken down and made into other tools. And that made it useful for trade... Just a guess.

[@1pcfred]

Stone tipping spears came much later.

[@TB-zw7dt]

All the above and then some. I'm not sure why he says it's a mystery.

[@elmohead]

I reckon it's a general shape to make a large number of tools, much like rolling clay into a ball is the first step into making all sorts of shapes.

[@CarbonFiberSwan]

I’m reminded of the guy who dug a big crater at a beach, and soon after a news station was there with an astronomer talking about how it was a meteor impact crater 😂

[@MaoRatto]

It's pretty straight forward what it is. It's a generalist swiss army knife. As it was a survival situation therefore it makes sense to not carry a bunch of specialized tools, but one rock that can do a bit of everything without a problem.

[@lumpychucks6457]

Multi-purpose makes the most sense. If you where cutting your hair or cordage (or peeling fruit), the wear would be minimal. These would have been hand tools, judging from the shape of the back side, so they wouldn't experience the forces associated with axes or spears. If they where seen as disposable, and relatively easy to craft, it's quite possible they experienced brief usage, and then where simply abandoned, also limiting wear.

[@aellalee4767]

I dunno how debated it is. At work we find unused caches that were left or forgotten. We don't often find big used tools because if it breaks during use, you can usually knap it again into something smaller and smaller until it can't be used again. That's also what the indigenous people we talk to tell us is what happened with their tools.

[@Ortagonation]

it is multifunction tool. The thing that still clean just some backup storage that still not in use yet, or still in prod.

[@pakde8002]

I've found several tools like this and I always assumed they were used for scraping hides. However, the multi tool theory makes a lot of sense.

[@NickHermans]

Are these tools found in regions where it's not easy to acquire 3 seashells? I think I might have cracked the mystery

[@AquilaSornoAranion]

Exactly what I thought too

[@markfinley3703]

Were they found in groups of three? Or groups divisible by 3?

[@vibecheck7241]

what were 3 sea shells used for?

[@NickHermans]

@@vibecheck7241 There’s several processes. You have number one, you have number two, and then the cleanup.

[@sparhawk5515]

Hide tanning tool for scraping the flesh from the leather would be the most obvious use to me. Every culture had to make clothes and this tool would be in big demand and as such useful for trade since everyone needed one,

[@mcsquisherton]

Honestly I could see a lot of these were made just to pass the time around the campfire. Kinda like a useful hobby I guess.

[@ronpflugrath2712]

Flicked their bics and lite cigars too.

[@notchomomma239]

They're really easy to make and useful for everything from hammering tent stakes to skinning a deer. Split a stick and tie one in the groove, and you just made yourself a hatchet or spear. Once you've held one in your hand and really thought about it, you quickly realize this is the tool that took us from small bands of omnivores in the middle of the food chain to the undisputed rulers of the earth.

[@anotherpointofview222]

@ProtoTribal It all makes sense if there is no higher, more advanced form of intelligence. If there is, then it just goes to show the magnitude of our capacity for ignorance.

[@71tofu]

@ProtoTribal We farm the fungi, and in return, they consume us during our inevitable demise. Corpses for corpses, the world goes around.

[@TheLoneClaw]

It's 100% a universal tool, and while it gets compared to a swiss army knife, I think it would be more helpful to think of it as a combination of a swiss army knife and a smartphone. By that I mean that while it can be used for a great number of tasks (like a swiss army knife), early humans used it frequently in their everyday lives and relied on it for their way of life (like a smartphone), and because it was so important for their lives, the tool accrued a greater social value and significance (also like a smartphone). Maybe having a better universal tool (what constitutes better in this case would probably depend on culture) came to signify social status (again, like a smartphone), and so you end up with a bunch of spares as early humans try to make tools that meet the standards set by their culture. And, as one might imagine, the very best of these tools might not be used at all because their social value hinge upon them remaining pristine. From a very human point of view, this makes a lot of sense--imagine that you make a lot of these in your life and then, one day, you manage to make a *really* cool-looking one. You wouldn't want to ruin it by getting it scratched up, now would you? No, you'd want to save it so you can show it off to your buddies and any potential mate, maybe even trade it for a big favor or give it to someone who saved your ass from getting eaten by a cave lion.

[@johnnyboi5003]

Based on everything said in this video it seems pretty clear this was a general purpose utility knife. Millions of people still use them every day in every industry. Prehistoric people would likely have their own version.

[@darkvioletcloud]

2:48 I'm almost certain that the lady on the right is an homage to the normal-type gym leader Lenora from Pokemon Black and White. She was one of my favorite characters as a kid, and I recognize the hair and headband!