Tool typology and technology

The essentials

Tool typology is the classification of prehistoric tools by shape, function and method of manufacture. Stone tools were made by knapping: striking a core with a hammerstone (direct percussion) or using a soft hammer of bone or wood, or by pressing off fine flakes (pressure flaking).

Key points

• Core tool: made by removing flakes from a nodule and using the remaining core (e.g. chopper, hand axe). Flake tool: made from the flake struck off (e.g. scraper).
• Unifacial tools are worked on one face only; bifacial tools are worked on both faces.
• Chopper: unifacial pebble tool with a rough cutting edge; chopping tool is its bifacial version. Typical of the earliest (Oldowan, Sohan) industries.
• Hand axe: bifacial, pear- or almond-shaped tool with a pointed end; the hallmark of the Acheulian culture. Cleaver: bifacial with a broad straight cutting edge.
• Scraper: flake tool with a working edge for scraping hides and wood; common in Middle Palaeolithic.
• Blade: a flake at least twice as long as it is wide, with parallel sides; typical of Upper Palaeolithic. Burin: chisel-like engraving tool.
• Microliths: very small (often under 5 cm) blades and geometric shapes (triangles, trapezes, lunates) hafted in composite tools; Mesolithic.
• Celt: ground and polished axe or adze of the Neolithic.
• Pottery: first appears widely with the Neolithic; early pots were handmade, later made on the potter's wheel. Pottery types and decorations help archaeologists identify cultures (e.g. Painted Grey Ware, Black and Red Ware).

Exam tips

• Link tool to period: chopper and hand axe (Lower Palaeolithic), scraper (Middle), blade and burin (Upper), microlith (Mesolithic), celt (Neolithic).

Common mistakes

• Calling a chopper bifacial; the classic chopper is unifacial.
• Thinking celts are chipped only; they are ground and polished.