2.5 million - 1.5 million years BC e.
The basis of human formation is labor. Hands free from locomotor functions could use objects found in natural conditions - in nature - as tools. Although the use of a number of objects as means of labor is characteristic in embryonic form of some animal species, specific feature man is that he not only uses found objects as tools, but creates these tools himself. Along with the development of the brain and vision, this characteristic feature human creation creates the basic prerequisites for the formation of the human labor process and the development of technology.
Technical progress and the culture of mankind are now manifested not in randomly made primitive tools, but in the target orientation in their manufacture, in the similarity of examples of their processing, in the preservation or improvement of their forms, which presupposes knowledge of the characteristics of the raw materials and processed material and the experience accumulated over a certain time and skills passed on to future generations. All this had a huge impact on the development of the brain. Apparently, Australopithecus began to purposefully process wood and other materials.
The oldest primitive stone tools made from pebbles, made from similar patterns and processed in a similar way, were found with the remains of fossil hominids. The creator of these tools is considered to be a “skilled man” - homo habilis. By hunting animals they obtained not only food, but also skins, bones, tusks and horns of animals, which were used to make various tools. Long animal bones and antlers were used as tools without further processing. Sometimes they were only broken and split.
2.5 million – 600 thousand years BC e.
One of the prerequisites for labor and the production of standardized tools was the emergence and development of primitive speech. The results of modern research do not provide any basis for determining when speech arose. Apparently the person had fairly developed speech organs modern type – homo sapiens, which appeared about 40–30 thousand years ago.
For a very long period, until the advent of agriculture, people obtained their food in two ways - by collecting fruits, plants, gifts of nature and by hunting. Women and children collected fruits, seeds, roots, shellfish, eggs, insects, shells, and caught small animals. The men hunted large animals, caught fish and some types of birds. To hunt and catch animals, it was necessary to make tools. The division of labor between the sexes - between man and woman - is the first significant division of labor in the history of mankind, which, like the improvement and development of tools, is one of the most important conditions for the progress of civilization.
The production of tools from stone began - pebbles, granite, flint, slate, etc. These tools looked like a piece of stone, which, as a result of one or two chips, resulted in a sharper edge - a stone chopper. The cleaving technique was as follows: the manufacturer held the stone being processed in one hand, and in the other a boulder, which he used to hit the stone being processed. The resulting flakes were used as scrapes. Typically, the production of stone tools processed using the cleaving technique was carried out by older people. In some areas, this technique existed for almost 2 million years, that is, until the end of the Stone Age.
Production activity during that period became possible despite the limited technical means, thanks to collective work, which was facilitated by the emergence of speech. The most important role in the struggle for existence was played by purposeful social relations people, their courage and determination to survive in the fight against animals that were many times stronger than humans.
600 – 150 thousand years BC e.
500 thousand years BC e. Sananthropus - Peking Man - appeared in China.
200 thousand years BC e. Homo sapiens appeared in China.
The most important invention of this period was the creation of a new universal tool - a hand ax. In the beginning, hand axes were made using the chopping technique. One end was cut off on both sides, sharpening it. The opposite end of the pebble was left untreated, which made it possible to hold it in the palm of your hand. The result was a wedge-shaped weapon, with uneven zigzag edges and a pointed end. Then working part the tools began to be corrected with two or three more chips, and sometimes the correction was done using a softer material, such as bone.
At the same time, along with the universal hand ax, several types of flakes appeared, which were obtained by splitting stones. These were thin flakes, flakes with sharp edges, short thick flakes. The cleaving technique spread during the Lower Paleolithic period (100 thousand - 40 thousand years BC). At sites inhabited by synanthropes, for example, in rock caves near Beijing, the remains of fires were found along with stone tools.
The use of fire is one of the most important stages in the development of mankind. The acquisition and use of fire made it possible to expand the possibilities of human settlement and existence, and created opportunities for the diversity of human nutrition and food preparation. Fire provided new ways of defense against predators. And nowadays fire is the basis for many branches of technology. IN ancient period people made fire only as a result natural phenomena- from fires, lightning, etc. The fire was kept in fire pits and constantly maintained.
Long wooden spears with burnt hard tips appear. The hunters who invented such spears also used hand axes when hunting animals.
150 – 40 thousand years BC e.
Neanderthals, and perhaps also some other ancestors of the human race, mastered the art of making fire during the Upper Paleolithic period. It is difficult to accurately determine the date of this great invention, which determined the further development of human history.
Fire was originally produced by friction wooden items, soon they began to get fire by carving, when a spark appeared when a stone hit a stone. There are other opinions regarding the original methods of making fire - at first fire was obtained by carving, and later by friction. In a later period, a bow-type device was used to make fire by friction. Having learned to make fire, man began to consume boiled meat, which affected his biological development. However, the fire could not save the person from the onset of cold weather. To survive, people began to build houses.
At this time, changes occurred in the methods and techniques of processing stone tools. They began to be made from flakes obtained by chipping from a stone nodule - a core (nucleus). The flint core was pre-processed. Round chips were used to give it a certain shape, the surface was leveled with smaller chips, after which plates were chipped from the core, from which points and scrapers were made. The blades were more elongated than the flakes, shaped and of a thinner cross-section; one side of the plate after chopping was smooth, and the other side was subjected to additional processing - finer beating.
Axes, chisels, drills and thin knife-shaped plates were made from stone cores. Animals were caught using specially dug holes. The organization of the team improves when expanding pasture farming and when hunting animals. As a rule, the hunt was of a driven-raid nature.
For dwellings, caves, rock terraces, primitive dugouts and buildings were used, the foundations of which went deep into the ground. Neanderthals mastered quite wide spaces. Their traces were found in the North, in particular in the West Siberian Lowland, in Transbaikalia, and in the valley of the middle Lena. This became possible after man learned to make and use fire. At this time, natural conditions also change, affecting a person’s lifestyle. For a long time, until the advent of metals, tools were made mainly of stone, hence the names Old Stone Age (Paleolithic), Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic) and New Stone Age (Neolithic). The Paleolithic, in turn, is divided into lower (early) and upper (late). After ice age A new geological era is beginning - the Holocene. The climate is getting warmer.
The development of cold regions involves new changes in human clothing. It began to be made from the skins of killed animals. Already during the Lower Paleolithic period, many tools were made from the bones and horns of animals, the processing of which became more advanced. Objects made from bones were twisted, cut, hewn, split, and polished.
40 thousand - 12 thousand years BC e.
The formation of the modern type of man has ended. His remains are found along with objects and tools that indicate the emergence of technology during the Lower Paleolithic period. Human settlements extend to larger territory globe. This became possible thanks to the improvement of his experience, knowledge, and the development of technology, which allowed man to adapt to different climatic conditions.
Stone plates and blades made using percussion technology appear. Thin-section plates were subjected to secondary processing using bone tools - retouchers. Retouchers are tools for touching up other tools and are the first tools in history to create other tools.
Various types of anvils were used as cores when retouching items. Universal axes are being replaced by specialized tools that were made using the chopping technique. In this case, narrow plates are cut off from the small core - blanks, which are subsequently subjected to secondary processing.
Primitive stone skins, axes, chisels, saws, scrapers, cutters, drills and many other tools are made. In the Paleolithic and especially in the Neolithic, the technique of drilling using stone drills originated and developed. At first, they simply scraped out the holes. Then they began to tie the stone drill to the shaft and rotate it with both hands. Inserted tools appeared: stone or flint plates were connected to a wooden or bone handle. With the help of improved tools, the production of wooden, bone and horn objects and tools is significantly expanding: awls, needles with holes, fishing rods, shovels, harpoons, etc. In Georgia, in the paleolithic cave of Sagvardzhile, Turitella shells were found, which served as decoration and had holes obtained by sawing and scratching. On the islands of Melanesia, primitive tribes, in order to make a hole, first heated a flat stone, and then dropped drops into the same place from time to time cold water, thereby causing microscopic chips, which, as a result of repeated repetition, led to the formation of a depression and even a hole.
In France, in Aurignac, the first bone needles were found at sites of the Upper Paleolithic period. Their age is attributed to approximately 28–24 millennium BC. e. They easily pierced skins, and instead of threads, plant fibers or animal tendons were used.
They are beginning to use improved insert drills, which were used to modify the gun. For example, insert tools were clamped and rotated between the palms. Then they began to use bow drilling (the bow string was wrapped around the shaft and the bow was moved away from you and towards you, with the other hand you held the shaft and pressed it against the workpiece), which turned out to be much more productive than manual drilling.
The technique of building dugouts is being improved, hut-type dwellings are being built, the bases of which go deep into the ground. The huts were reinforced with bones or fangs of large animals, which were also used to line the walls and ceilings. Huts appear with low clay walls and with walls woven from branches and reinforced with poles or stakes. Liquid food products are heated and boiled in natural stone cavities, where hot stones are thrown for heating.
Clothing is made from animal skins. However, the leather is processed more carefully; individual skins are sewn together with animal tendons or thin leather straps. Leather processing technology is quite complex. The processing process is labor-intensive and includes chemical methods, in which the skin is soaked in a salt solution, then the fat and juice of the bark are rubbed into the flesh various types trees.
A man trains a dog to hunt an animal.
Sleighs were invented for land transportation of goods and for movement. By the end of this period Some types of raw materials are already transported over long distances, for example, Armenian obsidian (volcanic glass), from which cutting and piercing tools and other tools were made, is transported almost 400 km.
The first boats and rafts were made from a whole piece of wood for fishing. Fish are caught with fishing rods and harpoons, and nets appear.
Roofs made of brushwood are woven to cover the top of buildings. Making baskets is the beginning of the weaving technique.
Some archaeologists believe that the beginning of pottery was laid by the fact that woven baskets were coated with clay and then fired over a fire. Pottery and production ceramic products played a very important role in the history of technology, especially during the birth of metallurgy.
Samples of the beginning ceramic production are clay figurines fired on fire.
Living in caves contributed to the emergence of lighting technology. The most ancient lamps were splinters, torches and primitive oil burners. From the Lower Paleolithic period, sandstone or granite bowls have been preserved, which were used as burners.
Along with household items, jewelry began to be made: beads made of coral and various teeth with holes in the middle, objects carved from bone and horns, and the first religious objects appeared. The first figurines of women, animals, ritual sculptures, and drawings, often beautifully executed, were found in the caves. Of interest is also the production of paints that have not changed their colors over tens of thousands of years.
During the Lower Paleolithic period, a new weapon was used to hunt animals and for self-defense - the spear thrower. The use of a spear thrower is an example of the use of leverage, which increases the speed and distance of a spear's flight.
A bow with a string that hits the target at long distance, is the pinnacle of invention at the end of this period. The bow as a weapon was successfully used for many millennia, right up to our era. Some researchers believe that the bow was invented approximately 12 thousand years ago, but arrowheads found during excavations indicate that they were made more recently. early period. The bow made it possible to successfully hunt animals, which, according to some scientists, led to the complete destruction of many species of animals and forced hunters to look for new opportunities for existence, that is, to switch to agriculture.
Fire is produced using a bow-type device.
Towards the end of the Lower Paleolithic period, the first mines were laid for the underground extraction of raw materials, primarily flint, slate, and later limestone, from which jewelry was made. In some areas, on the territory of the initial surface mining, holes are deepened, shafts are dug, adits are diverted from them, and stairs are built. This is how a new branch of production arises - mining. Raw materials were obtained by a primitive method of cutting down rock in mines and by chipping or sawing off layers of rock.
12 - 10 thousand BC e.
At the end of the Ice Age, as well as during the Holocene era, many species of large animals, such as the mammoth, musk ox, and woolly rhinoceros, became extinct. As a result, hunters began to specialize in catching a specific animal. Some groups of hunters hunt reindeer, others hunt gazelles, fallow deer, bezoar goats, etc. Herds of wild animals, near which hunters settled, represented a kind of natural reserve of food and meat. The proximity of settlements to natural pastures allowed hunters to catch wild animals and keep them near their homes. This is how the process of domestication of animals occurs, primarily sheep and goats. Gradually, conditions for the emergence of pasture farming are beginning to be created.
In Western Asian countries, the practice of regularly harvesting wild plants is spreading. cereal plants– barley, oats, einkorn wheat. The grains were ground in special mortars. Manual stone grain grinders and grain graters appear.
10 – 8 thousand years BC e.
Beginning of the Neolithic period. Climatic conditions become similar to modern ones, glaciers are retreating. Natural conditions, especially in the mountainous regions of Western Asia, southern North America etc., do not contribute to the expansion of hunting, preconditions are created for the emergence Agriculture. In Russia, in Siberia, an abrasive tool was found, consisting of two stone bars with conical grooves, intended for making bone needles, awls or arrowheads. A workpiece was placed between the bars in the groove. Then they began to rotate and move it with reciprocating movements, gradually moving deeper into the conical hole, squeezing both halves of the bars with your hand and adding water. As a result of using such a tool, exactly identical sharp and even needles or arrowheads appeared. An ancient bone needle with a small hole drilled in it was found.
9500 BC e.
In some regions of the globe, primarily in the countries of Western Asia, the foundations of agriculture are being formed, which represents an epochal phenomenon in the history of mankind.
As a result of inefficient farming, only a limited number of people could count on a constant supply of food. However, with the development of agriculture and cattle breeding, man began to produce more than was necessary for his own needs, - to receive excess product, which allowed some people to feed themselves at the expense of the labor of others. The excess product created the prerequisites for the separation of crafts into an independent branch of production, which, first of all, created the conditions for the emergence of cities and the development of civilization. The process of establishing agriculture lasted several millennia.
Agriculture made it possible to create and store grain reserves for a long time. This helps people gradually transition to a sedentary lifestyle, build permanent homes, public buildings, allows them to organize more efficient farming, and later carry out specialization and division of labor.
Single-grain wheat began to be cultivated primarily in southern Turkey, double-grain wheat in the valley of southern Jordan, and double-row barley in northern Iraq and western Iran. Lentils spread quickly in Palestine, later peas and other crops appeared there.
The crop fields were first cultivated with poles pointed at the ends. However, tools intended for cultivating the soil were known earlier, before the advent of agriculture.
Gradually, improved tools for harvesting and reaping appeared: knives, sickles, flails, hand grain grinders with a mortar.
Simultaneously with the emergence of agriculture, the domestication of wild animals began - goats, sheep, later cattle, pigs, etc. Instead of ineffective hunting and trapping of wild animals, productive forms of farming such as livestock breeding were created.
Cattle breeding provides humans with meat and other food products, as well as clothing, raw materials for making tools, etc. Later, domestic animals are used as draft power. The question of whether agriculture or cattle breeding arose first is debated. Agriculture and cattle breeding are closely related. The domestication of wild animals apparently began in northern Syria or Anatolia (Turkey).
During this period, insert tools spread, the base of which was made of wood or bone, and the working part was made of a set of small stone plates, called microliths. The plates were most often made from flint, obsidian or other minerals. Thus, they are created various knives, sickle-shaped tools, incisors with a blunt back or beveled edge, axes, hammers, hoes and other tools. These tools were used not only by the first farmers, but also by the majority of hunters, who began to cultivate the land much later, in subsequent millennia.
With the invention and widespread introduction of insert tools, a technical revolution occurred. Flint knives, saws, and chisels were placed into a wooden or bone base and secured with bitumen. One of the first composite and complex insert weapons was the bow and arrow. By the time the onion was invented, man used various household appliances– spear throwers, traps, traps.
The invention of the bow could have been prompted by the use of various throwing devices: spears, planks for throwing darts, etc. A person observed how energy was accumulated when bending branches or young trees, and released when straightening. The oldest simple bows were made from one bent stick, the ends of which were tied together with a bowstring made from animal tendons. At one end of the bow the string was attached with a knot, at the other it was put on with a loop. Compared to a spear, the use of a bow and arrow made it possible to increase the speed and distance of the arrow several times. In addition, the bow, compared to other throwing weapons, had aiming quality.
The arrow was made of wood, and the tip was made of microliths. Such arrows were light and long-range. The sizes of the bows varied - from 60 cm to 2 m or more. The bow quickly found use among different tribes and peoples. The image of a simple bow is found on ancient Assyrian and Egyptian monuments. He was known to the Romans, Gauls, and Germans. The Greeks, Scythians, Sarmatians, Huns and some other peoples used a more effective complex bow, which was glued together from several parts, from different types of wood, horn or bone.
The use of bows and arrows significantly increased human productivity and greatly facilitated the life of hunting tribes. In addition, it freed up time for collecting edible plants, including cereals, taming wild animals, fishing, collecting snails and mollusks. This was important because hunting did not satisfy the need for food. The bow and arrow laid the foundation for the technical prerequisites for the transition from hunting to agriculture and cattle breeding.
Microliths were used for many tools, including knives and then sickles. Fundamentally new means of labor, which found a variety of economic use, created the necessary technical prerequisites for the transition from hunting to agriculture and cattle breeding, that is, to a producing economy.
Sedentary farmers begin to build large residential buildings. Houses are built from twigs and coated with clay. Walls are sometimes built from separate layers of wet clay; mud bricks appear, stone buildings are erected. In some settlements of Western Asia in the 10th - 9th millennium BC. e. Up to 200 people lived there. Inside the building they laid out clay ovens and grain storage bins were built. A matting appears. Invented lime plaster, with which buildings are coated.
8 thousand years BC e.
A fortified city with about 3 thousand inhabitants was built in Jericho. The houses, round in plan, were built of mud brick. The entire city was surrounded by a wall of rubble stone with massive towers eight meters in diameter and 8 meters high. The height of the fortress walls was 4.2 meters. The walls were made of stone squares 2? 2 meters weighing several tons each. In the 8th millennium BC. e. and in subsequent millennia there were other fortresses.
Raw materials become traded items and are transported over long distances. Obsidian from Anatolia (Turkey) is transported to cities located at distances of over 1000 km. Some sources indicate that Jericho owes its power and prosperity to the obsidian trade.
The production of household ceramics emerges. Special ceramic or pottery kilns are built for firing clay objects and dishes.
8 – 6 thousand BC e.
The Neolithic, New Stone Age received its name due to the widespread introduction of new methods of processing large stone tools. Yes, it appears new way processing stone tools by grinding, drilling and sawing. First, the workpiece is made, then the workpiece is ground. These techniques made it possible to move on to processing new, harder types of stone: basalt, jade, jadeite and others, which began to serve as the raw material for creating stone axes, hoes, chisels, picks. Various tools for working wood, mainly pointed axes, chisels and other tools, were embedded in a wooden base.
During processing, tools are cut and sawed with stone saws without teeth. Served as an abrasive quartz sand. Dry and wet grinding was used using special stone blocks. Sometimes grinding is carried out using sanding blocks, which are given appropriate profiles. Drilling holes, primarily cylindrical ones, using tubular bones or bamboo trunks, sharpened in the shape of teeth, is common. Sand was used as an abrasive. The use of sawing, drilling, and grinding made it possible to achieve a certain shape and cleanliness of the tool surface. Working with ground tools reduced the resistance of the material of the object being processed, which led to an increase in labor productivity. Over time, the grinding technique reaches high level. Great importance Tribes who occupied forest areas had polished axes. Without such a tool in these areas, the transition to agriculture would be very difficult.
With polished stone axes, rigidly attached to a wooden handle through drilled cylindrical holes, they began to cut down forests, hollow out boats, and build houses.
8 - 7 thousand BC e.
Already early landowners became familiar with metal. In Anatolia (Turkey) and Iran, individual objects and decorations, tools made of copper by cold metal processing were discovered: piercings, beads, awls. However, this method of making tools cannot yet replace the traditional technique of making tools from stone. The final transition from stone tools to metal ones occurred during the period of the slave system.
7 thousand BC e.
The formation of craft production begins.
The settlement of Çatalhöyük in Anatolia was built according to a single plan. It is located near a copper ore deposit, which was developed in II BC. e. For the construction of houses, they began to produce adobe blocks - mud bricks. Their shape was elongated or oval, width 20–25 cm, length – 65–70 cm. They were sculpted from clay mixed with coarsely chopped straw. The oval shape of the brick did not allow the walls of the houses to be made strong; they often collapsed. At the same time, the house was not restored, but rebuilt on the site of the previous building. The bricks were held together with clay and adobe mortar. The floors were painted white or brown.
Rectangular houses, usually one-room, are closely adjacent to each other, the roofs are high and ribbed. Inside there was a rectangular hearth. The length of the living quarters reaches 10 m, the width - 6 m. In the city itself there are many beautifully decorated religious buildings - sanctuaries. By their nature, they differed from residential buildings only in their larger sizes.
Gradually, crafts emerge and people who specialize in them appear. First of all, the profession of a miner stands out. Developments of flint from the Neolithic period were found in France, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and England. Poland is home to one of the oldest mining monuments - primitive flint mines. Large flint-working workshops were discovered in Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine.
Open-pit workings gave way to mine developments. The oldest mines were shallow. The high quality of flint and its beautiful patterned design caused great demand for it.
Remains of textiles have been found in Anatolia, which proves the existence of spinning fabric from raw materials plant origin and weaving on machines. Patterns woven on textiles have been discovered that resemble patterns on modern Turkish carpets. The raw material for spinning was wool, then silk, cotton and flax. Spinning was carried out different ways, for example, they twisted the fibers between their palms.
Then spinning was carried out using a spindle with a whorl and a slingshot. At one end of the spindle there was yarn, at the other there was a spindle made of stone or clay to ensure rotation. In this case, the fibers were twisted into a strong thread and wound onto a spindle. They wove on primitive handlooms with a horizontal or vertical warp. The design of the machine was very simple. Two posts were driven into the ground, on which a horizontal bolster was secured. The main threads were tied to the roller, which were pulled with weights. The weft thread was wound around a stick with a pointed end. The weaver pushed this stick with the thread with his fingers alternately above and below the warp threads. Woven fabric and woven matting were dyed. Vegetable dyes, such as moraine, were used as dyes.
In the most developed areas of Western Asia, a further division of labor occurs. Part of the population is not directly involved in food production, but is engaged in handicraft production - the manufacture of tools, instruments, and household items. This division of labor between the farmer and the artisan gradually acquired significant significance for the development of technology and production, for the emergence of cities and the first state institutions.
7 - 6 thousand BC e.
In Anatolia, copper was smelted from ore for the first time, as well as tin. Based on the results of studies of the preserved ash, scientists claim that the smelting temperature reached more than 1000 degrees Celsius. Experts express the opinion that copper was smelted from malachite, and brown coal was used as fuel. IN next millennium this method of copper metallurgy is spreading in the emerging and developing cities of the Middle East.
Obtaining a certain metal by reducing ore is a further stage in the history of mankind. At first they used a metal of native origin, then they discovered that pieces of, for example, copper ore begin to melt when heated strongly, and when cooled they become solid again, that is, copper acquires a new property. The process of copper smelting was discovered by accident during the firing of ceramic products in kilns.
Later they began the complex process of reducing sulfide ores, in which raw copper was obtained by repeatedly heating the rock. Copper still for a long time could not completely replace stone as the main raw material for making tools or compete with it, since the process of obtaining copper was very labor-intensive and complex, and the method of extracting stone was easy and affordable. Only much later did the use of iron produce a real revolution in technology.
6 thousand years BC e.
Polished obsidian boards are used as mirrors. Cosmetic items appear.
The oldest of the roads was built in England, which consisted of wooden walkways laid for pedestrian crossing over a swamp.
6 – 5 thousand BC e.
Agriculture does not develop on the high plains of the Iranian plateau, Anatolia and the Levant, as before, but in the valleys big rivers- Euphrates and Tigris in Mesopotamia, and then the Nile and Indus, where the natural fertility of the soil was used, fertilized by river silt during river floods. The practice of artificial irrigation of crops is gradually spreading, as a result of which agricultural yields significantly increase and conditions are created for the emergence of the first permanent settlements.
Instead of hoes and poles, when cultivating the land, they begin to use a hook, a hook, consisting of a horizontal coulter and a handle. It is assumed that primitive plows and plows were first known in Mesopotamia.
In the Middle East, the processing of copper ores will be improved. Although copper is primarily processed by forging, casting and molding methods are beginning to be explored. Metal production begins to develop in open, and then in closed forms, production of various artistic products made of metal. Later, in the Bronze Age and during new history this method of metal production becomes of great importance.
As a result of the introduction of the method of smelting metal in molds and in the form of ingots, the manufacturing process of many tools, tools and weapons is significantly reduced. Copper ore is mined in mines, brought to the surface and often transported long distances as a precious raw material. Copper is extracted from rock using fire. The rock is heated to a high temperature, then quickly cooled, for example by water, causing it to crack or split.
They begin to produce items made of silver, gold and tin.
Hello, dear readers!
In continuation of my article Processing of natural stone materials, which caused a mixed reaction and a lot of controversy, this time I decided to write about how and with what they processed natural materials ancient people. First of all, we will talk about stone.
Why is this topic interesting? The fact that, as it turned out, many readers and commentators do not have sufficient information about ancient tools and, apparently, limited themselves to the information that they received at school (in history lessons in the fifth grade, yeah). And although much of what I will publish here is not some kind of “great discovery,” this data can be useful to all lovers of antiquities who are interested in the history of technology (tools and devices) and its influence on our modern life. For much of what was learned then gave impetus to the development of mankind, and some of it has reached us almost without changing the basic principles of their action.
I would also like to note that I do not have any writing talent, so please be kind to what I publish here. “The Chukchi is not a writer, the Chukchi is a reader,” and therefore I ask you to “understand and forgive” :).
This material will be used as a basis.
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The first stone tools
The first stone tools were pebble tools. The earliest find is a chopper found, dating back to 2.7 million years BC. e. The first archaeological culture to use stone tools was the Olduvai archaeological culture. This culture existed from 2.7 to 1 million years BC. e.
Choppers were also used by Australopithecines, but their disappearance did not stop the production of such tools; many cultures used pebbles as a material until the beginning of the Bronze Age.
Australopithecines made tools in a primitive way: they simply smashed one stone against another, and then simply selected a suitable fragment. Australopithecines soon learned to process such axes using bones or other stones. They used the other stone as an axe, making the sharp end even sharper.
So Australopithecines developed something like a cutter, which was a flat stone with one sharp edge. The main difference between it and a chopper was that such a cutter did not chisel, but cut, for example, wood.
Revolution in the making of stone tools
About 100 thousand years ago, people realized that it was more efficient to first give big stone simple geometric shapes, and then chip off thin stone slabs from it.
Often such a plate no longer required further processing, since the cutting side became sharp after chipping.
Breakthrough in weaponry
Around 20 thousand BC. e. the ancestors of people guessed that stone tools would become more effective if they were attached wooden handles, or handles made of bone, animal horns. It was during this period that the first primitive axes appeared. In addition, people began to make the first spears with stone tips; they were significantly stronger than ordinary wooden tips.
When they came up with the idea of attaching stone to wood, then the size of these tools decreased significantly, and so-called microliths appeared.
Microliths are stone tools small sizes. Macroliths, in turn, are large stone tools, size from 3 cm, everything up to 3 cm is microliths.
In Paleolithic times, a primitive knife was made from a long piece of stone that was sharp at one or both ends. Now the technology has changed: small fragments of stone (microliths) were glued to a wooden handle using resin, so a primitive blade was obtained. Such a tool could serve as a weapon, and was much longer than a regular knife, but it was not durable, since the microliths often broke upon impact. Such a tool or weapon was very simple to manufacture.
At the time when the last ice age began on Earth, or rather when it was already coming to an end, many tribes had a demand for a partially sedentary life, and this way of life required some kind of technical revolution, tools had to become more advanced.
Mesolithic tools
During this time period, people learned new methods of processing stone tools, including grinding, drilling and sawing stone.
They polished the stone in the following way: they took the stone and rubbed it on wet sand, this could last for several tens of hours, but such a blade was already lighter and sharper.
The drilling technique also significantly improved the tools, since it was easier to connect the stone with the shaft, and this design was much stronger than the previous one.
Polishing spread very slowly, with widespread use of such technology only taking place in the fourth millennium BC.
Stone tools in the Neolithic era
During this period, the production of microliths - small stone tools - was significantly improved. Now they already had the right one geometric shape, they formed smooth blades. The sizes of such guns became standard, meaning they were very easy to replace. To make such identical blades, the stone was split into several plates.
When the first states appeared in the Middle East, the profession of a mason appeared, who specialized in the professional processing of stone tools. So in the territory Ancient Egypt and Central America, the first masons could even carve long stone daggers.
Soon microlites were replaced by macrolites, and now plate technology was forgotten. In order to take stone tools somewhere, it was necessary to find accumulations of stone on the surface; primitive quarries appeared in such places.
The reason for the emergence of quarries was the small amount of suitable stone for creating tools. To make high-quality, sharp and fairly light tools, obsidian, flint, jasper or quartz were needed.
When population density increased, the first states began to be created, migrations to stone were already difficult, then primitive trade arose, in places where there were deposits of stone, local tribes took it to places where this stone was not enough. It was the stone that became the first item of trade between tribes.
Obsidian tools were especially valuable because they were sharp and hard. Obsidian is a volcanic glass. The main disadvantage of obsidian was its rarity. The most commonly used materials were quartz and its varieties and jasper. Minerals such as jade and slate were also used.
Many Aboriginal tribes still use stone tools. In places where he did not reach, mollusk shells and bones were used as tools; in worst cases, people used only wooden tools.
"Knife" made of obsidian
Stone grinding
Stone ax
Conversations on archeology. Stone tools. Manufacturing techniques
Development of technology in the Stone Age, page 63
Historians have determined the time of the appearance of the first man on Earth - this happened about 2.5 million years ago: then he was still covered with hair and did not have his own tongue. He is called “homo habilis” or australopithecus. About one and a half million years ago, he was replaced by “skillful man” - more developed and with the rudiments of culture.
How ancient people lived: everyday life
It was impossible to survive alone in harsh conditions, so people united in communities where they engaged in collective labor. They had common tools, and the spoils were also divided among all members of the community. Thanks to this device, it became possible to transfer knowledge from generation to generation: older members of the community taught the younger members the necessary skills, if new information appeared, it was added to the already known - this is how it accumulated.
Tools and fire
The tools of labor of ancient people were quite primitive: the main tools were made of stone, which was then used to process wood and bone. From stones, breaking off pieces of the desired shape and size, primitive people made scrapers, choppers and spears, which replaced just a sharpened stick. The dishes were mainly hollowed out from wood or animal bones. Later, man learned to weave baskets and nets for catching fish. While excavating sites of ancient people, archaeologists obtained a lot of important finds, from which these facts were reconstructed.
At that time, people already used fire, but still could not make it, so the fires were carefully preserved.
Rice. 1. Ancient man makes fire.
Hunting and gathering
Labor already at this stage was divided into women's and men's. The weaker ones, women, were engaged in gathering, looking for herbs, roots and berries in the forest, as well as bird eggs, larvae, snails, etc. Men went hunting. How did ancient people hunt?
They not only used raids, but also dug traps and made traps.
Both hunting and gathering are appropriative forms of economy that forced tribes to a nomadic way of life: having devastated one area, they moved to another. When the bow and arrows appeared, more food began to be obtained, and devastation occurred faster. In addition, the parking lots had to be located close to the water, and this complicated the search for a new place. Thus, conditions forced people to move from an appropriating form to a producing one.
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Rice. 2. Primitive hunter.
Agriculture and cattle breeding
First, people began to domesticate animals, and they were the first to domesticate the dog, which later helped herd herds and hunt, and also guarded the house. Then pigs, goats and sheep were domesticated. Having mastered the skills of breeding them, the ancient man was able to have cattle. The herds were also communal.
The horse was the last to be domesticated - this happened around the 4th century BC. e. The very first, according to archaeological evidence, were the tribes living in the western part of the Eurasian steppes.
Women did farming. The planting process looked like this: the earth was loosened with a digging stick, where the seeds of local plants were thrown useful plants. Later, this primitive tool was replaced by a shovel, which was made from wood using a stone scraper, then it was replaced by a hoe: a stick with a branch, and then a stick with a sharp stone tied to it.
The emergence of Neanderthals
This type of human appeared about 200 thousand years ago. By this time, man had already learned to make fire, his life became more ritualized. Due to the onset of the Ice Age, people moved to live in caves, they developed crafts, for example, tanning skins from which they made fur coats. During the same period, art was born: drawings made by the hand of primitive man were still very primitive - just stripes and lines, but soon images of animals also appeared. Neanderthals did not have such a developed form of communication as writing.
Rice. 3. Neanderthal.
Neanderthals went extinct 30 thousand years ago, and the reason for this is still not known. The main version is displacement by more developed Cro-Magnons, “reasonable people.”
What have we learned?
From an article on the topic “Ancient people” (grade 5) we learned that, according to archaeologists, ancient people According to the history of their origin, they went through four stages of development from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens. They had primitive tools and weapons, they were engaged first in appropriating and then in producing forms of activity, and they lived in communities.
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The beginning of the history of the formation of human society is marked by that distant time when the first tools of labor of primitive man began to appear. Our ancestors (australopithecines), while collecting, did not use any objects - neither unprocessed nor processed.
Tools of labor of primitive people. Prerequisites for the emergence
According to a number of scientists, great apes (human ancestors), who moved to the earth from the trees, in the process of survival and struggle for existence, used sticks and stones, “processed” by nature, for protection from predatory animals. Subsequently, the found objects began to be used for obtaining food. At first, they were used only as needed, and after use they were thrown away. But in the course of biological development and prolonged accumulation of experience, anthropoid apes became increasingly convinced that it was not always necessary tools can be found without difficulty. This, in turn, suggested that objects needed by the ancestors should be preserved in some way. In addition, there was a need to use more convenient items. As a result, the tools of labor of primitive people became permanent instead of temporary. At the same time, the ancestors gradually began to accumulate and preserve the objects they found.
Processed tools of primitive man 
In one situation or another, it was not always possible to find objects with which it would be convenient to break a nut, for example, or deliver an effective blow to the enemy, or dig up a root or tuber in the ground. Gradually, anthropoid apes begin to understand the need to give tools the necessary shape. This is how processed objects began to appear. It should be said that the processed tools of primitive people had few differences from the unprocessed ones found in nature.
Over time, experience began to accumulate, the ancient ancestors began to make hand-held small axes. This item was a universal tool of labor for primitive people for quite a long time and was used in a wide variety of activities. Among wooden objects, the digging stick, which had a pointed end, became widespread. With its help, ancient people dug out larvae, roots, and tubers from the ground. A little later a club and a club appeared. For a long time, the first was used as a striking weapon, and the second as a throwing weapon. 
These items were used during gathering, during hunting, and for protection against attacks by predators. A little later, primitive man makes a spear. Gradually it replaced the club and club. Along with the axe, various tools made of stone appeared and became quite common. Thus, scrapers, chippers, knives, discs, pointed points, spear tips, cutters, etc. appear.
How the tools of primitive people were made
Simple objects were complete. They were made from one piece of stone or wood. Subsequently, composite products began to appear. So, they began to attach a flint and then a bone tip to the end of the spear, using a leather belt as a retainer. Wooden handles were attached to the choppers. Such tools became the prototype of the hoe, hammer, and axe.
The Lower (Early) Paleolithic lasted from the emergence of primitive man (about 2 million years ago) until about the 40th millennium BC. e. This period of time is divided sequentially into four cultures: pre-Chelles (pebble), Chelles (Chelles), Acheulean (Saint-Acheul area), Mousterian (Le Moustier cave).
In the pre-Chellean period, the earth was inhabited by Pithecanthropus, which was replaced by Sinanthropus in the Chellean period, and by Neanderthals in the Acheulian and Mousterian periods. All of them experienced an era of savagery, which corresponded to appropriating sectors of the economy, first gathering (first stage), then supplemented by hunting (second stage), and subsequently fishing (third stage). Their primitive communal formation fits into two stages: the primitive human herd - in the pre-Chelles period and the early matriarchal clan community of gatherers, hunters and fishermen - in subsequent cultures (Chelles, Acheulean and Mousterian).
Pre-Shell culture. The appearance of the first guns
The pre-Shell (pebble) culture represents the most ancient period in history (about 2 million - 100 thousand years ago), when people learned to use sticks and stones as tools and mastered the initial techniques of processing them.
If the very first tools used by Australo-Pithecus were random, unprocessed stones with sharp edges and ordinary sticks, then primitive people (Pithecanthropus) began to subject them to primitive processing - splitting stones and sharpening sticks. The latter can only be assumed. since wood products have not survived to this day.
Characteristic of this period were crude tools made from whole pebbles, rough-hewn only on one side, as well as coarse massive flakes obtained by splitting large stones. Therefore, the pre-Chelles culture was called pebble culture.
Chelles culture." Improving stone tools and their manufacturing techniques
During the Chelles period (ca. 400-100 thousand years ago), the technology for making and using stone tools by primitive man (Sinanthropus) had already fully developed. The material most often was flint - a fairly common and extremely hard mineral that could split into thin plates (flakes) with sharp edges with excellent cutting properties.
The main tool of labor was the “Shell ruble” - a massive almond-shaped, oval or spear-shaped stone with a smooth heel for resting with the palm and a pointed cutting part. The chopper was universal in its purpose and made it possible to chop with powerful blows, as well as cut and dig the ground. In addition, it was an indispensable weapon for hunting, defense and attack.
Axes were made by rough, double-sided upholstery of the blade with another stone - a chipper. The upholstery was carried out with strong and sharp blows, leading to the separation of large pieces, which did not allow obtaining a high-quality and sharp blade.
Fig 1. Stone Age tools: a - eolith, b - digging stick, c - club, d - chopper, d - scraper, f - pointed points, g - stone axe, h - spear with a stone tip, i - harpoon with a bone tip tip
In addition to axes, Sinanthropus also used flakes obtained as a result of chipping away the original nodule or pebbles. Flakes were most often used without further processing as primitive cutting tools for dismembering prey, as well as making wood products. In addition, chopping and piercing tools of other designs were used - disc-shaped and in the form of massive pointed points.
The point of making most primitive tools was to give their working part the shape of a wedge, which in itself became the first outstanding invention of primitive man. It is the wedge that underlies all modern cutting tools, the external shape of bullets, shells, missiles, airplanes, boats and many other modern structures designed to move in various media (solid, liquid, gaseous) is shaped in the form of a wedge.
Acheulean culture. Mastering retouching techniques and using fire
During the Acheulian period (about 100-40 thousand years ago), stone tools continued to be improved, the technology for their production improved. New types appeared, such as stone scrapers for scraping and piercing drills for drilling recesses and holes.
Acheulean man, along with the technique of large chips, also mastered the technique of retouching (from the French retouche - correction), which consists in “correcting” the shape of the original workpiece by separating small plates from it using frequent gentle blows. This technique combined with precision striking with a skillful hand The craftsman made it possible to give the tools more regular geometric shapes, and their blades - straightness and sharpness. The instruments have become not only more elegant, but also lighter in weight.
For housing, Acheulean people most often adapted caves, grottoes and other natural shelters, but gradually began to master the technique of constructing artificial dwellings. At first these were simple huts made of poles, supported by a central pillar and covered with branches, with a fireplace in the middle.
Fire began to play a huge role, which Acheulean people used not only to heat their homes, but also for protection from predators, as well as for frying animal meat, edible fruits and roots. This improved and diversified human nutrition, provided more comfortable conditions for his existence and allowed him to survive in the conditions of sharp cooling associated with the longest glaciation in the history of the Earth. In addition, an even sharper line was drawn between man and the rest of the animal world.
A sharp cold snap forced man to invent clothing, for which the skins of killed animals were used, first in an untreated form, and then man began to master the technology of leather dressing.
Mousterian culture. Differentiation of tools by purpose and manufacturing technology
The Acheulean culture gave way to the Mousterian culture, and Pithecanthropus and Sinanthropus were replaced by Neanderthals with a more developed culture. By this time, the range of stone tools had expanded significantly and their differentiation according to purpose and manufacturing technology began. The forms of stone tools became more complete and defined, and bone tools began to appear.
For Mousterian, the most characteristic were points and side scrapers - the first specialized male and female tools. The male point was used for processing wood and finishing off animals, the female scraper was used for stripping skins, scraping off fat from them and preparing them for making clothes. A scraper also appeared, which differed from the scraper by having a notch in the middle part and was better suited for planing wood and skinning. The double-pointed tips began to be used as daggers, and could also be attached to the end of a stick. This is how the spear appeared, which became the most common weapon of the Neanderthal, indispensable when hunting large animals.
Mastering counter-retouching. The emergence of tools
The technique of stone processing was supplemented by counter-impact retouching, with the help of which cutting blades and tips of weapons and tools were processed and, most often, corrected. To do this, the object being processed was placed on a massive stone anvil and struck with a wooden mallet. As a result of the collision with the anvil of the sharpened blade, very small scales peeled off from it and it acquired the correct geometric shape and high sharpness.
Drummers, retouchers, hammers, anvils, drills and other tools, with the help of which everything else was made, became the first tools standing at the origins of civilization, without which the life of modern man is unthinkable.
Transportation of prey overland was carried out in backpacks and by dragging; trees, bundles of brushwood and reeds were used to cross water barriers; rowing was carried out with hands and feet. This marked the beginning of land and water transport.
Mastering the technique of making fire. The most important technical achievement of the Mousterian culture was the mastery of methods for artificially producing fire, which was previously used as obtained by chance and was called natural (“wild”).
To produce fire, the method of stick friction was used, which was also used for drilling holes, and it is not precisely established what was primary, detection of the stick igniting when drilling a hole or vice versa. The second way to create fire was to create sparks when stones hit stones - a phenomenon that people had previously noticed when processing workpieces with a chipper. As F. Engels noted, the mastery of fire “... for the first time gave man dominance over a certain force of nature and thereby finally separated man from the animal kingdom.”
Dyatchin N.I.
From the book “History of Technology Development”