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Checking Your Understanding of Stone Tool Technology
TUTORIAL #B1
Last updated  August 17, 2012

 Below are some questions regarding Tutorial #B1: Stone tool technology for CHM-107 (Lecture)

In your email program start composing an email and paste the questions to your email (use CTRL-V to paste or use Edit menu and choose "Paste"). You can then answer them in your email. Phoenix College students use chm107pc@gmail.com.
Question 1: The solution was stone tools technology, but what was the problem that we needed to solve?
Question 2: Even though extinct now, the saber tooth tiger probably gave early man much to fear and was a fierce competitor for food. In what ways do you think the saber tooth tiger was superior to the humans of that time (last ice age)

Question 3: The image on the right is a boulder of obsidian. Obsidian was the mineral of choice by prehistoric hunters for making knives and arrowheads. It is still used today by some surgeons where the sharpest blade is needed. One company which sells surgical tools also carries the obsidian scalpel. Visit this Web page and find out the price for an obsidian scalpel with a 12mm (1/2 inch) blade.


http://www.finescience.com/...obsidian-scalpels.htm

Question 4: Another mineral used for making stone tools was flint. Flint is also glass-like. The arrowheads to the right are made of flint. They are sharper and harder than steel. Flint is so hard that when it strikes a piece of steel, the flint scratches the steel and particles of steel fly off white hot as they burn in the air. For this reason flint was used in the old "flintlock" guns to ignite the gunpowder. Now it is used in cigarette lighters and in as a foolproof way to start a fire in wet environments. Do a search of the Web for "flint firestarters" What did you learn about them?
Question 5: Since "flint" is a common mineral used for stone weapons and "knapping" is a German word meaning to "break a piece off", flintknapping is the art of breaking pieces off of flint (or other suitable minerals) for the purpose of making stone tools or weapons. Search the Web for flintknapping and find a person who is a flintknapper and which state are they from.
Question 6: Stone arrowheads apparently were sharp and hard. However, their real effectiveness came from being attached to an arrow shaft, which could hit something at a good distance. Even today, many hunters prefer the bow and arrow because of its stealth and lethal power. Search the Web and try to find the world distance record for shooting an arrow. I've found various claims, what are you finding?
Question 7: Stone arrowheads were first made to allow primitive hunters to protect themselves from animals and to kill large animals for food. Name two movies where arrows were used to kills humans instead of animals. (optional: name a movie where arrows were used to kill an animal for food)

Question 8: Scenario: You are walking along a dry river bed and come across a dog that has gotten tangled up in some rope. The rope is too knotted and stiff for you to untie it. You need a knife to cut the rope but don't have one. What could you do?

 dry river bed
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