Mastodawn

Oldest hafted stone tools in East Asia found in China, dating back 160,000 years

Researchers working in central China have identified stone tools shaped for attachment to handles between 160,000 and 72,000 years ago. The findings appear in Nature Communications and shift long-held views about technological development in East Asia...

More information: https://archaeologymag.com/2026/01/oldest-hafted-stone-tools-in-east-asia-china/

#archaeology #archeology #archaeologynews #StoneTools #anthropology #Paleolithic

Headlines Africa Jan 16

Africa: Early Humans Relied On Simple Stone Tools for 300,000 Years in a Changing East African Landscape: [The Conversation Africa] Our prehistoric human ancestors relied on deliberately modified and sharpened stone tools as early as 3.3 million years ago. The selection of rock type depended on how easily the material could be flaked to the desired shape and form. http://newsfeed.facilit8.network/TQNKDc #Africa #EarlyHumans #StoneTools #Prehistory #EastAfrica

Christopher Drum Jan 2

RE: https://mastodon.social/@stonetoolsblog/115828083257631023

Today's AI boom is not the first, though it is definitely the biggest. Today we speak of systems being capable or incapable of AI. Back in the day, even the lowly #c64 was put to work in the #AI mines.

I was curious to see how that worked, and to understand the original boom a little better. That led me into looking at Japan's "Fifth Generation Computing" initiative. I had no idea how spooked the West was by that announcement!

Campbell's Soup, Sputnik, feline taxonomy, the movie PI, and a Connection Machine all make appearances in the newest post. I swear it makes sense when you read it!

#stonetools #retrocomputing #computerhistory

Anthropology.net Dec 15

At Terra Amata, early Europeans shaped local limestone into flexible tools 400,000 years ago. Simple methods hid careful planning, mobility, and early steps toward Levallois thinking in a dynamic coastal landscape.#Paleolithic #HumanEvolution #Archaeology #StoneTools https://www.anthropology.net/p/stones-at-the-edge-of-the-sea-what

Stones at the Edge of the Sea: What Terra Amata Says About Europe’s First Engineers

On a Mediterranean shoreline 400,000 years ago, early humans worked humble limestone cobbles into flexible tools. Their choices reveal planning, restraint, and a surprising capacity to adapt.

Anthropology.net

Ars Technica News Nov 7

10,000 generations of hominins used the same stone tools to weather a changing world https://arstechni.ca/sjR8 #australopithecus #paleoarchaeology #Archaeology #stonetools #hominins #Science #oldowan #science

10,000 generations of hominins used the same stone tools to weather a changing world

This technological tradition lasted longer than Homo sapiens have even been a species.

Ars Technica

Andy Nov 4

#evolution #prehistory #tools #stoneage #human #humanity #invention #inventors #intelligence #stonetools #discovery #BBC #archaeology #kenya #news #UK #namorotukunan

Stone tool discovery suggests very first humans were inventors https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce8zn4ln85ro

Stone tool discovery suggests very first humans were inventors

The find shows that the technology was passed down through thousands of generations.

Ars Technica News Oct 31

Wear marks suggest Neanderthals made ocher crayons https://arstechni.ca/AENs #ancientpeopledidstuff #paleoarchaeology #Neanderthals #Archaeology #stonetools #Science #science

Wear marks suggest Neanderthals made ocher crayons

Neanderthals were apparently no easier on their art supplies than modern kids.

Ars Technica

Anthropology.net Oct 15

New research overturns the idea that Europe’s first modern humans copied their tools from the Near East—showing innovation sparked independently on both sides of the Mediterranean. #Archaeology #HumanEvolution #StoneTools #Paleolithic https://www.anthropology.net/p/the-myth-of-a-single-origin-how-two

The Myth of a Single Origin: How Two Worlds Shaped the Dawn of Modern Toolmaking

New research challenges the long-held idea that Europe’s earliest modern humans simply borrowed their technology from the Near East.

Anthropology.net

Archaeology News

Oct 6

Rare 30,000-year-old personal toolkit reveals life of a Stone Age hunter

Archaeologists have uncovered a rare and remarkably preserved collection of stone tools, dating to around 30,000 years ago, at the Paleolithic site of Milovice IV in the Czech Republic.

The collection, discovered during excavations carried out in 2021, consists of 29 blades and bladelets...

More info: https://archaeologymag.com/2025/09/30000-year-old-toolkit-the-czech-republic/

Follow @archaeology

#archaeology #archeology #stoneage #stonetools #paleolithic #anthropology

Christopher Drum Oct 3

I spent some time getting to know Superbase on the C64. While using it, I was revisited by a ghost from the past who tried to make trouble for me. When all hope was lost, using the power of BASIC (!) I overcame my enemy. Intrigued? Read on!

#retrocomputing #stonetools #superbase #c64

https://mastodon.social/@stonetoolsblog/115312544474937211