Early Humans and The Making of Tools

Introduction

The early human beings were hunter-gatherers and dependent mostly on food hunting. These hunter-gatherers used to live in a small band of people, a maximum of 100-150 people. They used to roam here and there in search of food.

There were many archaic humans there in the early age of humanity. There were Neanderthals, homo sapiens, homo Rhodesians, etc. At the start of the stone age around 50000 BCE, only homo sapiens survived and started dominating the earth. Homo sapiens are known as early modern humans.

Early Modern Human Lifestyle

Early modern humans are known as homo Sapiens or human beings. These homo sapiens are the ancestors of the humans currently living on the planet earth. This human being is the only surviving human species and currently dominates the planet earth.

The lifestyle of modern human beings started to develop in the early stone age.

Stone age - The stone age is a period of roughly between 5,00,00 BCE to 4000 BCE, in this age the primary work of human beings was hunter-gathering.

The stone age is further divided into three periods −

• Old stone age or Palaeolithic age.

• Middle stone age or Mesolithic age.

• New stone age or Neolithic age.

Old Stone Age or Palaeolithic Age

This period started with the growth of human beings and their evolution. The era was around 500,00 BCE to 10,000 BCE, the early stone age was further subdivided into three stages −

• Early old stone age

• Middle old stone age

• Upper old stone age

Stone Age Hut

Middle Stone or Mesolithic Age

The period between the 10000 BCE to 8000 BCE is known as the middle stone age. In this period hunter-gathers started to develop new types of stone and bones for hunting.

New Stone Age or Neolithic Age

This stage started around 8000 BCE and ended around 4000BCE with the rise of agriculture and other metals such as copper/ bronze and iron. In this age, hunters-gatherers started to use stone blades, etc.

Fire and Debate Around Which Hominid Started Cooking

An American anthropologist, Richard Wrangham has studied the origin of the fire and the development of humans. He has argued that it was Homo Erectus that developed a fire somewhere 1.8 million years ago; the homo sapiens and Neanderthals have learned from the homo Erectus.

Fire was the revolutionizing invention of the human; it is said that what separates humans from all other living beings are their ability to control fire. Only human intelligence can burn and control fire.

HE argued that before the invention of fire, human teeth were too big, and the digestive system was too complicated with a small brain. But since humans started to cook, the size of teeth started becoming smaller, and the digestive system became less complicated because the intestines can easily digest cooked food. The Brain now has more cognitive energy to use, this has made the human brain bigger.

Which Early Humans Made Tools?

Recently around 2015 the early stone tools have been found at the bank of lake Turkana(Kenya). The carbon dating of stone tools suggested that they are around 3.3- million-year-old. The finding suggests that the earliest human species that have used these tools are Australopithecus afarensis or Kenyanthropus platyops. Until recently it was believed that homo Habilis were the first humans to make tools but now it has been suggested that homo fossils(homo Erectus) were the first people to use the tools.

Kenyanthropus Platyops

Rama, Kenyanthropus platyops IMG 2945-white, CC BY-SA 3.0 FR

How Did Early Humans Use the Tools?

Early humans used the tool mainly for hunting, cooking, and making a ditch. The primary source of energy for humans was hunting, that's why their tools were for hunting most of the time. The early humans made the tools by craving the stone, they carved stone in such a way that one side of the tool has a narrow shape and the other side was used for handling.

The early humans had all types of tools necessary to kill the animal for food. Initially, the hunter-gathers started to use raw stone to hunt the animal, but with time they started to develop the techniques to cut the stone in such a way that makes it a better tool −

• Direct percussion flaking techniques − This technique is used to directly hit one stone with another stone to get the shape by breaking it.

• Indirect percussion flaking techniques − This technique is used to make more sophisticated tools. In this technique, the cutting is done through indirect hitting.

• Grinding and polishing The techniques are used to make blades, bows, arrows, etc. and polishing is sometimes used to make it sharp and give it aesthetic value.

Conclusion

Early human beings started using tools for their day-to-day needs somewhere 1.8 million years ago, there were many species of humans on the planet, and all species except homo sapiens survived till the end of the stone age. There are many theories as to why only homo sapiens have survived, but since the domination of homo sapiens started on the earth, they have changed the nature of the earth.

The early human beings were hunter-gatherers, dependent on hunting for energy needs. To hunt animals, human beings started making sophisticated tools, the development of tools of humans are classified by scholars in the various epoch of human development, for example, the old stone age of human history has tools that are not sophisticated. The stone age succeeded with the copper, bronze, and iron age. In all three ages, the tools of human beings have changed. The society of hunter-gathers was usually a tribal society, the band of some 40-50 people used to roam here and there in search of food. The culture of tribes was not static as they are changing the pattern of hunting, staying, and eating.

FAQs

Q1. What is known as the agricultural revolution?

Ans. The agricultural revolution is the age of invasion of agriculture by human beings. Just after the end of the stone age, human beings started settling in one place to grow crops. The agricultural revolution has completely changed the lifestyle of human beings. Agriculture has given rise to private property, civilization, and city-states.

Q2. What do you mean by the bronze age?

Ans. The period after the end of the stone age is known as the bronze age. The period of the bronze age is roughly between 3300 BCE to 1200 BCE, in this age humans discovered bronze, a type of metal for use in day-to-day life.

Q3. What do you mean by Iron age?

Ans. The iron age is the period after the bronze age, this is the last period in the 3-period system of early human beings. The Iron age is known for the use of Iron, a hard metal that will help human beings in performing daily activities.

Q4. Which was the first civilization on the earth?

Ans. The first modern civilization on earth is known as the Mesopotamian civilization, this civilization started during the bronze age. The civilization was concentrated on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in present-day Iraq.