Palaeolithic tools

This is a summary of an entry from Wikipedia; it has been adapted to ESO.

Lower Palaeolithic

The earliest stone tools in human history are characterised by their simple construction, predominantly comprising of core forms. These cores were rocks that had been struck repeatedly to whittle flakes away, forming a sharp tip:

Eventually, more complex tools began to be developed; these were characterised not by the core, but by the biface. The most notable form of which was the hand axe:

Middle Palaeolithic

In Europe, these bifaces evolved to produce smaller and sharper knife-like tools as well as scrapers:

                                          (picture from www.artehistoria.jcyl.es)

Upper Palaeolithic

At this time, long blades (rather than flakes) appeared:

By the end of the Upper Palaeolithic microliths appeared; they were small stone tools (one centimetre long and half a centimetre wide), sufficiently worked so as to be distinguishable from workshop waste or accidents. Regardless of type, microliths were used to form the points of hunting weapons such as spears and (in later periods) arrows and other composite tools.

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