Students and Stone Tools: Human Origins 2017

Students in the multidisciplinary science course Human Origins get to try their hand at flint knapping. After reviewing what we know about Paleolithic tool technology, from the earliest tools at Lake Turkana in Africa, dating to some 3.3 million years ago to the long, elegant blades made by anatomically modern humans, students selected a cobble of Texas chert and tried to remove a few flakes. We also had a reading from Hubert Mewhinney's book A Manual for Neanderthals. Many students did a nice job and saw distinctive flakes detached from their cobbles. We also discovered that most of our heavier hammer stones had been crushed by previous classes, which means that Dr. Wheeler needs to get some more flint knapping supplies before next year!