Maharashtra Board Class 5 EVS Part II Chapter 6 Stone Age Stone Tools PDF Download

Stone Age: Stone Tools

Types And Forms Of Tools According To The Type Of Task

If we saw a shiny object buried in the ground, what would we do to take it out? Perhaps, we would scrape it out with our fingers. If that did not work, we might try to dig it out with a twig or stick. If that too did not work, we would have to look for a pointed stone. That should do the job. But, if it still doesn't, then we would have to get an iron rod to dig that shiny object out. This shows that we need to choose the tool according to the demand of the task.

The following four factors determine our choice of tools:

1. Availability of resources.

2. Minimal use of time and energy.

3. Maximum efficiency.

4. Skill of handling tools which is acquired through practice.

Apes like the chimpanzee also use stones to break seeds and nuts. They use sticks to stir the ants out from ant-hills to catch them. Humans, too, have always been using tools such as bones, stones, dried twigs and sticks as tools.

With continuous and minute observation, experimentation and their inborn imagination, humans learnt that they could sharpen rods, bones, sticks and stones into tools to carry out their tasks more efficiently. They also learnt that they could give these objects any shape they desired.

In the previous lesson, we saw that stone tools were found with the remains of Homo habilis. We can say that he made them because they were found near his remains. But, did he make only stone tools? The answer to this question is 'No'! Because he made tools from other materials as well.

However, of the tools made by humans thousands of years ago, only the stone tools can be found today. Tools made from bone are rarely found. But since twigs and sticks decompose easily, we do not find any tools made from them.

Tools made from stones and bones:

1. A chopper made from a pebble

2. A scraper

3. A circular hammerstone

4. A chopper made from a flake of stone

5. A borer made from a bone

6. An antler used as a pick

Teacher's Note

Our ancestors were very smart. They used stones to make tools just like how we use many tools in our daily life. In India, people still use stone grinders to make flour at home.

Exam Trick

Remember: Stone Age people chose tools based on what they needed to do. Just like you pick a pencil to write and an eraser to erase, they picked different stones for different tasks.

Points to Remember

Tools were chosen based on four factors: resources, time, efficiency, and skill.
Apes also use simple tools like stones and sticks.
Stone tools can be found today, but bone and wood tools have disappeared.
Early humans like Homo habilis made both stone and other tools.

Stone Age Tools

The period from which mainly stone tools are found is called the Stone Age. The Stone Age is divided into three periods on the basis of the shape and the type of tools found.

1. Old Stone Age or Paleolithic Age ('Palaeo' means 'old' and 'lithos' means 'stone'.)

2. Middle Stone Age or Mesolithic Age ('Meso' means 'middle'.)

3. New Stone Age or Neolithic Age ('Neo' means 'new'.)

Old Stone Age (Paleolithic Age)

Homo habilis and Homo erectus, who belong to the Old Stone Age, both made their tools using the 'percussion technique'. This technique involves beating or striking one large pebble against another to obtain stone flakes.

The first tools made in the Old Stone Age with this technique were crude. Only one side of those tools had a sharp edge. Such tools are known as choppers. They could only be used for breaking nuts or bones. The tools made by Homo habilis were of this kind. They indicate that Homo habilis had not yet learnt to hunt. Flakes of stone would be produced while shaping his tools. He used the flakes for scraping meat from hide, for chopping meat and other foodstuffs, for sharpening wooden sticks, etc.

Tools like the hand-axe and cleaver made by Homo erectus are more proportionate and symmetrical than the choppers made by Homo habilis. A proportionate and symmetrical tool has to be mentally visualized first. Only then it is possible to make it. Homo erectus could mentally visualize his tools even before he actually shaped them. To obtain stone flakes, he used things like antlers as hammers. He further sharpened the edges of those flakes by scraping off smaller pieces to make scrapers with very sharp edges. It means that Homo erectus was using different tools for different tasks according to the demand of the task.

Teacher's Note

Percussion technique means hitting stones together to make sharp pieces. In India, people in villages still use stone hammers and chisels to shape rocks for building.

Exam Trick

Remember: Homo habilis made rough choppers. Homo erectus made better hand-axes. Think of it like upgrading from an old phone to a new phone—better tools for better work.

Points to Remember

Percussion technique means beating stones together to get flakes.
Choppers had only one sharp edge on one side.
Homo habilis could not hunt; Homo erectus could hunt.
Homo erectus made symmetrical and proportionate tools by imagining them first.
Different tools were used for different jobs in the Old Stone Age.

With his improved tools, Homo erectus could have a greater variety of food because he could now hunt a variety of big and small animals. These included mainly the deer, bison, rabbit, etc.

The Neanderthal Man made further progress in tool-making techniques. He began to make smaller tools.

Homo sapiens brought about a revolution in the technique of making tools. He devised a technique of obtaining long and narrow blades of stone. He made various implements like the knife, scraper, borer, chisel, etc. from these long blades. He also began to use ivory and rare stones of the quartz variety for making tools and other articles.

Homo sapiens had made significant progress in gaining knowledge of his environment and in the techniques of making tools and obtaining food. This enabled him to stay in one place for a longer period of time. Groups of Homo sapiens had begun to build huts and live in them. They had also started celebrating social festivals. Many artistic objects and cave paintings created by Homo sapiens were possibly meant for these festivals. Homo sapiens had started using ornaments to adorn themselves. Beads from the time of Homo sapiens, made of shells, bones and animal teeth have been found. Thus, the beginnings of human culture go back to the Old Stone Age.

Remains of tools from the Old Stone Age have been found in India at various places, from Kashmir to Tamil Nadu. However, not many human fossils from the Old Stone Age have been found in India. Fossils of a human skull and the collar bone of an Old Stone Age woman were found on the banks of the Narmada in the vicinity of Hathnora, a village near Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh. Besides that, the fossilized skull of a child from the Stone Age was found at a village near Puducherry. Some remains of Old Stone Age humans have also been found in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. Gangapur near Nashik and Chirki-Nevasa near Nevasa are among the well-known Old Stone Age sites in Maharashtra. Gangapur is on the banks of the Godavari river and Chirki-Nevasa is in the Pravara basin.

Teacher's Note

Homo sapiens was very clever. He made better tools and even decorated himself with beads. In India, our ancestors lived around rivers like the Godavari and Narmada.

Exam Trick

Remember: Homo sapiens = wise human. He made long blade tools and created art. He is the same type of human that you are. That's why he could think and create beautiful things.

Points to Remember

Homo sapiens invented the technique of making long and narrow blades.
He made knives, scrapers, borers, and chisels from these blades.
Homo sapiens could stay in one place longer and built huts.
He created cave paintings and used ornaments and beads for decoration.
Old Stone Age remains in India are found from Kashmir to Tamil Nadu.

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