Event:Raw Material Selection in Flintknapping 2026

Evidence of stone tool production dates back 3.3 million years, predating our own species. From the beginning, this new behavioral adaptation required early hominin relatives to understand which characteristics a stone must possess in order to be utilized for tool production. Only stone types with specific traits can be predictably and reliably fractured into a predetermined shape to create sharp-edged fragments that are useful as tools—a process referred to as flintknapping. Understanding the nature of these qualities and learning to identify them in raw materials across the landscape is the first step in producing stone tools, a technology that was essential to the success of ancient relatives living in harsh and dangerous environments around the world.