A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made of stone. Although stone-tool-dependent cultures exist even today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric societies that no longer exist.
The study of stone tools is often called lithic analysis by archaeologists. Stone tools may be made of chipped stone or ground stone. A person who makes chipped stone implements is called a flintknapper.
Chipped stone tools are made from cryptocrystalline materials such as chert, radiolarite, chalcedony or obsidian via a process known as lithic reduction. One simple form of reduction is to strike stone flakes from a nucleus (core) of material using a hammerstone or similar hard hammer fabricator. If the goal of the reduction strategy is to produce flakes, the remnant lithic core may be discarded once it has become too small to use. In some strategies, however, a flintknapper reduces the core to a rough unifacial or bifacial preform, which is further reduced using soft hammer flaking techniques or by pressure flaking the edges. More complex forms of reduction include the production of highly standardized blades, which can then be fashioned into a variety of tools such as scrapers, knives, sickles and microliths. In general terms, chipped stone tools are nearly ubiquitous in all pre-metal-using societies because they are easily manufactured, the tool stone is usually plentiful, and they are easy to transport and sharpen.
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Psota, Archaeological Consultants - A cultural resource management company based in Sonoma, California that specializes in the analysis of stone tools and obsidian hydration. Includes site and lithic technology reports.
Meta Description: [ We are involved in a variety of private sector archaeological investigations and consulting services including historic preservation, research & analyses, and other areas of cultural resources management. ]
Archaeological Guide to Chert Types of East-Central Illinois - Identification guide to the types of chert exploited by the prehistoric people of east-central Illinois. By Lenville J. Stelle and Thomas Duggan.
Meta Description: [ An archaeological guide by Lenville J. Stelle and Thomas Duggan to the types of chert exploited by the prehistoric people of east-central Illinois. ]
ArchNet - Lithics - Categorized directory of annotated links.
Arroweb1 - Photographs of a personal collection of stone tools from Arizona and Texas.
Meta Description: [ No Summary ]
Arrowhead Museum - This site is dedicated to showing small points from around the world. Image gallery.
Meta Description: [ Arrowheads,Lithics from around the world, Flint chert points foliates world wide artifacts points birdpoints Peru, tips Africa, Argentina, China,Egypt, Kansas, TExas, Georgia, Europe, Italy, France,South Carolina Free appraisals, Free Artifact Information ]
Digital Crabtree - Paper presenting a computer simulation of Folsom fluting. By Tony Baker.
Dirtdiggers.net - Pictures of a personal collection of arrowheads from Missouri, arranged by time period.
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Donald's Indian Artifacts - A collection of stone tools found in North Carolina over a 50 year period.
Embeddedness of Lithic Technology - An article by Leland C. Bement that describes using stone tools to reconstruct Folsom mobility and subsistence practices on the Southern Plains.
Finding Arrowheads - A basic guide to arrowhead hunting.
Meta Description: [ A basic guide to arrowhead hunting ]
FlintSource - Searchable database of samples of flint and other siliceous raw materials collected by Rengert Elburg and Paul van der Kroft in Central Europe. Search by location or type.
Meta Description: [ The archaeology of European flint, chert, quartzite and similar siliceous raw materials, used in prehistory for lithic industries ]
Indie's Page O' Points - Collection of points from Texas.
Lithic Casting Lab.Com - Sells casts and pictures of projectile points.
Meta Description: [ Stone Age Time Line of World Artifacts, casts, pictures, descriptions of Paleo Indian, Clovis, Archaic, Woodland, Mississippian culture, etc. and History of Flintknapping ]
Lithic Technology - A peer-reviewed journal concerned with dissemination knowledge about archaeological stone tools.
Lithics Glossary - Definitions of terms commonly used in the study of lithic technology.
Mike's Artifact Collection - Photographs of a personal collection of Native American artifacts.
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Northern Fluted Points - Inventory, database, and bibliography of points from Alaska and Canada. Compiled by Georges A. Pearson.
Projectile Point Types: Neverending Draft Bibliography - Compiled by Michael Pfeiffer.
Projectile Points and Methods of Dating - Introduction to the methods of dating projectile points using artifacts from Texas as examples.
Southern Ontario Projectile Points - An illustrated typology with artifact descriptions presented by the London Chapter of the Ontario Archaeological Society.
Stone Age Reference Collection - A reference program containing information about the typology, technology and raw materials and of the Stone Age.
Stone Artifacts of the North Carolina Piedmont - An amateur archaeologist's look at lithic artifacts found in the North Carolina Piedmont.
Meta Description: [ Archaeology, projectile points, and lithic artifacts in the North Carolina Piedmont. ]
Stone Tool Typology - Introduction to the classification of stone tools by form.
Texas Arrowheads and Indian Artifacts - Photo gallery of arrowhead and artifact types found in Texas with information provided on lithic technology.
Meta Description: [ Texas Arrowheads vitual museum with projectile point typology, updated Archaeological information, descriptions and photos of Texas arrowheads and Indian artifacts. First hand reports on unique Archaeological sites and finds! ]
Texas Points: Typology - Field guide with photographs and descriptions of many of the lithic types found in Texas.
The Dirt Brothers - Collections of thousands of pictures of arrowheads and other lithics, mainly from Texas.
The Lithics Site - Extensive listing of links to information and resources of interest to lithic analysts and other archaeologists, maintained by Hugh W. Jarvis, University at Buffalo.
What is Lithic Analysis? - Introduction to the analysis of stone artifacts. Features definitions of lithic artifact classes manufactured by chipping, grinding, or battering.
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