Bone tool facts for kids
A bone tool is exactly what it sounds like: a tool made from animal bones! People have been using bones to create useful items for a very, very long time. Almost any bone can be used, and there are many ways to shape them.
People like early humans and even Neanderthals used bone tools. Even when other materials were around, bones were still popular. Long bones and antlers are especially good for making tools. People would scrape bone pieces against rough stones. This helped them create things like arrow and spear points. They also made needles, awls, and fish hooks.
Bone tools were often made from bone splinters. Sometimes, deer antlers were carefully cut into useful shapes. People made many different items from bone. These included spoons, knives, awls, and pins. They also crafted fish hooks, needles, and hide scrapers. Bones were even used for musical instruments like rasps and flutes. Toys and decorative items like hair combs were also made from bone.
Antler is much harder than bone. It was used for strong tools like flakers and knives. Even animal teeth and hooves were used. Teeth were drilled to make decorations for clothes and necklaces. Hooves were also drilled for clothing decorations. They were even strung together to make rattles and bells.
Bones are natural materials, so they don't always last. But in the right conditions, bone tools can survive for thousands of years. Many have been found by archaeologists all over the world. Some traditional groups still make bone tools today. Also, experimental archaeologists try to make them to learn more about the past.
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Bone Tools Through Time: A History
The oldest bone tools ever found are from Africa. They are about 1.5 million years old! It seems bone tools first appeared and grew popular in Africa. A very important discovery was made at Blombos Cave in South Africa. Archaeologists found 28 bone tools there. These tools are about 70,000 years old. Scientists studied them carefully. They found that people used special methods to make awls and projectile points.
Bone tools have been found with Neanderthal groups. They are also found with early anatomically modern humans. For a long time, many archaeologists thought Neanderthals learned to make bone tools from modern humans. They thought Neanderthals just copied stone tools. But modern humans, it was believed, understood bone better. They shaped it into specific, useful tools.
However, a new discovery has changed this idea. Special bone tools called lissoirs (polishing tools) were found. They were at two Neanderthal sites in France. These tools are about 51,000 years old. This is older than when modern humans are known to have arrived in Europe. This suggests Neanderthals might have taught modern humans how to make these special tools!
Before the Industrial Revolution, machines didn't make tools. So, many everyday items like needles were made from bone. Today, these old bone tools are often valued as antiques. Even now, Bone folders are still used by bookbinders.
Different Kinds of Bone Tools
Sharp Awls
An awl is a long, pointed tool. It is used for piercing or marking materials. These include wood or leather. Bone awls are simply pointed tips made from bone splinters. They can look very different. Some are highly polished from use, while others are rough. They also vary in size. Many bone awls still have the rounded end of the bone, called an epiphysis. Experts have different ideas about how awls were used. But most agree they were used for making baskets. They were also used for poking holes in animal hides.
Spear Points
Bone spear points have been found all over the world. In Washington State, a mastodon rib bone was found in the 1970s. It had a broken bone projectile point stuck in it. A study in 2011 used radiocarbon dating. It showed the point was about 14,000 years old. This is very important. It means people were in the Americas before the Clovis people. This discovery might help rewrite early human history in the Americas.
Farming Hoes
Hoes made from bison scapula (shoulder blades) were common. They were used by Plains Village Indians for farming. They used them to grow small garden crops. These hoes were used until French traders brought iron hoes in the 1700s. Bone hoes found by archaeologists range from 40 cm to 15 cm. They got smaller because people often sharpened them. Bone tools were also used for digging up insect mounds for food. This practice is called entomophagy.
Musical Instruments
Many different musical instruments have been made from bone. A flute made from vulture bone was found in Europe. It is thought to be the world's oldest musical instrument. It is about 40,000 years old. This was when modern humans were settling in the area. Researchers believe musical instruments like this flute helped early humans. They helped them form stronger social groups. This might have given them an advantage over Neanderthals.
Also, the musical instrument called bones is a pair of animal bones. They are played by clacking them together. This instrument has a history dating back to ancient China, Egypt, and Greece.
Other Types of Bone Tools
- Harpoons and fishhooks
- Sickles (for cutting plants)
- Knives
- Daggers
- Pin-like tools
- Smoothers (for working hides)
- Quill flatteners
- Arrow-shaft wrenches (for straightening arrows)
- Fleshers (for cleaning hides)
- Hide grainers (for preparing hides)
- Beads (for decoration)
- Needles
- Parts for Bow and Arrows
- Parts for Snares
See also
- Blombos Cave
- Paleolithic tally sticks
- Bone folder
