Stone Age Technologies Essay

In social studies we had been tasked with writing an essay about the era of technological advancements we researched to create this slideshow. I once again have done mine on the stone age:

Between the time of the start and end of the stone age many inventions were created and developed into modern things over time. Modern tools with slightly altered uses due to different environments from back then. Some of the important inventions are things like sharpened rocks, cave art, and controlled fire.

An important creation from the stone age was the sharpened rock. It was a point in which certain tasks would be made easier, it allowed the residents of the time to chop and cut things like meat, flesh, and wood. Archaeologists have found masses of sharpened rocks and also smashed up bones with their marrow removed. The residents of the time would have competed with carnivores for their kill’s bone marrow. The marrow inside of bone can be seen as a nourishing and nutrient filled substance. These rocks have modernly been replaced for sharpened blades with handles. The sharp rocks would be used to cut into the dead animal to remove the bones before a carnivore would be able to kill them. Now being more specific things like knives, axes, and other bladed tools, they have different purposes than the sharp rocks, because now humans aren’t prey.

Another stone age invention was the residents drawings on the walls leaving cave art for modern humans to see. The paints were made of crushed up rocks and other pigments meaning they had already known about colors. They would use different tools with the specific purpose of drawing to create the wall art. The many drawings could be seen as a way for the residents to document their life or moments they enjoyed. You could see cave art as the pre-evolution of canvas paintings, documentation, and photo albums. Though their paintings can give insight into daily lives more modern paintings are just for visual appeal.

They invented controlled fire as well within the stone age. They would have been able to cook food and boil water with the fire, making it safer for consumption. Fire radiates heat energy which can warm up people and food meaning the residents of the time wouldn’t freeze to death on cold nights. They had made pits in the ground and found that striking two variants of rock together would make sparks. The sparks would then light burnable items like wood and kindling and create a flame. For modern day use it has turned into fireplaces and ovens, splitting off into two different inventions. Fire is less used in modern day for cooking since humans created heating elements but it was still useful at the time.

The stone age showed many technological beginnings to what’s used as modern technology. Sharp rocks became blades, drawings on the walls became drawings on canvas, and fire pits became fireplaces and ovens. With the advancement of man many technologies of the time have been updated and changed giving rise to new techniques and skills. Although today not many still need the tools for the same reasons being that we humans have become sheltered away from predators.