500,000 year old stone tool vs. weapon mystery

fearn · 15th March 2012, 02:34 PM

I think that's like asking what a stick was used for. They were used for all sorts of things. If you believe McDougall's Born to Run, our ancestors hunted by exhausting their prey through marathon runs, so they probably carried as little as they could get away with. A heavy toolkit of specialized stones is less than useful if you've got a ten mile run before dinner. A generalized cutting edge that you can use to cut down sapling spears, digging sticks, or use as a weapon, that's something that's more useful.

As for heat treatment, given the age of the stones, it's highly likely they went through at least one forest fire, which would provide a heat treatment.

15th March 2012, 02:34 PM	#4
fearn Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 1,247	I think that's like asking what a stick was used for. They were used for all sorts of things. If you believe McDougall's Born to Run, our ancestors hunted by exhausting their prey through marathon runs, so they probably carried as little as they could get away with. A heavy toolkit of specialized stones is less than useful if you've got a ten mile run before dinner. A generalized cutting edge that you can use to cut down sapling spears, digging sticks, or use as a weapon, that's something that's more useful. As for heat treatment, given the age of the stones, it's highly likely they went through at least one forest fire, which would provide a heat treatment.