Welcome to the Museum of Stone Tools!  The Museum's mission is to promote stone artefact research to students and life-long learners.  The Museum hosts a diverse collection of high-quality open-access 3D models of stone artefacts from all over the world.

Humans and their ancestors have been making stone tools continuously for some 3.3 million years, and all of our advanced technologies—from cell phones to Mars rovers—were implicit in that first stone tool.

The physical demands of stone-flaking drove evolutionary changes to the human hand, allowing the precise grips that underpin all manners of artistry and sport.  Forethought and planning are necessary for complex stone-flaking, and this influenced the evolution of our unique cognitive abilities.

Ancient flaked stones have become icons for the deep past.  The British Museum’s *A* *History of the World in 100* *Objects* began with stone tools, and in symbolic recognition of the importance of stone tools in the history of technology, NASA sent a Clovis spearpoint to the International Space Station in 2015.

But we have not reached the end of stone-flaking.  Stone and stone tools are important aspects of contemporary Indigenous cultures, and stonemasons continue to use stone-flaking techniques.  The internet hosts a robust trade in modern-made tools: a thriving hobby of stone toolmakers—called ‘flintknappers’—share their skills in person and on social media.  And recently-made stone tool ‘fakes’ continue to appear on the antiquities market.

  


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