Early humans as engineers

Early hunter-gatherers from the Middle Stone Age in southern Africa were selecting the most suitable material available for stone tools and spearheads more than 60,000 years ago, according to a study by Dr. Patrick Schmidt from the University of Tübingen’s Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology section. Researchers on the study used a specially developed model to test the force needed to flake off pieces from various rocks which were used to make sharp-edged tools at the Diepkloof Rock Shelter, a site about 150 kilometers north of Cape Town.

For the longest period of human history, stone was the most important raw material for toolmaking. “Stones were ’napped’ or flaked to make tools such as knives and scrapers," says Patrick Schmidt. The Stone Age began around 2.6 million years ago and only ended around 2000 BC, depending on the region. The first step in tool production was the collection of specific stones.