Native American Stone Tools
Native American’s created their tools from materials that were readily
available in the regions that they lived. Native American stone tools are
the most well known because they are the types of tools that have survived
through the years. Unlike the tools made from leather, wood, and bone, Native
American stone tools remained intact and buried beneath the dirt.
Most Native American stone tools are comprised of other materials as well.
For example, axes were frequently made from pieces of wood joined to polished
or ground stone.
However, other tools were made primarily of stones. Most Native American
stone tools were made out of pieces of limestone, cobbles, or sandstone.
Pieces of granitic cobbles were primarily sharpened and attached to handles
to create clubs or hatchets. In addition, another common Native American
stone tool was the manos. This tool was made up of slab shaped stones that
were used to grind up corn meal and other foods.
It was not unusual to use one set of Native American stone tools to create
another. For example, sandstones were often used as sharpening or sanding
tools. They would aid in the creation of other tools made of bone or shell.
The type of stone tools that each tribe created was unique to their culture
and the region of the country that they lived in. This makes it easier for
archeologists to tell tribes apart. In addition, the same tribe may have
used different types of tools during different eras, so scientist can date
the tribe based on the tools that they find.
The types of Native American stone tools also help determine what activities
the Indians commonly took part in. For example, they will be able to tell
if the tribe concentrated on hunting, fighting, fishing, or farming, by the
type of tools they used.
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