Ancient humans may have risked their lives making stone tools

Dec 06, 2023

Modern flintknappers experience a wide variety of injuries that could have led to life-changing consequences or death for ancient humans making stone tools

By Jeremy Hsu

2 June 2023

Injuries from making stone tools could have resulted in loss of life and limb for ancient humans

Kent State University/American Antiquity/Michelle Bebber

Modern flintknappers who practice making stone tools hurt themselves with surprising frequency. But injuries that today require stitches or a trip to the emergency room could have been a death sentence for an ancient stone worker living in an era before modern medicine and antibiotics.

Some of the flintknapper injuries reported in a first-of-its-kind survey can seem almost comical, with two people admitted to hitting themselves in the testicles and one person dropping a …