Since at least 2.6 million years ago, early human have been using stone to create tools. These tools created the necessary solution to many problems they were facing. As time went on, the culture and complexity of their lives increased and with it as did the variety and intricacy of the tools they made and used.
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In the beginning, the tools made and used were very simple. These tools are referred to as early Stone Age tools. This category includes the hammerstone and the core. According to The Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program they created a hammerstone by taking a fair sized (palm sized) stone and forming a flat side by scraping and striking it against more dense rock. They were then able to use it for processing their food, breaking up bones, or chipping flint to ignite a fire. Likewise they created a core by striking it against a rock until they created a sharp cutting edge. Cores could then be used as a hand ax, chopper, or scraper. As they progressed into the middle and later Stone Ages, tools were made with slightly more precision and for different purposes. This includes stones that come to a point and thin needles normally made from bones or thin, dense pieces of wood. These tools are still known as some of the most primitive, and yet they still fit in to the characteristics of being engineered.
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