Mesolithic Tool Kit

This collection of flints shows the range of stone tools used by people during the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age). It includes an axe (top left); a flint core (top right); end scrapers (middle left); burin (middle centre); blades (middle right); microliths (bottom left) and blades (bottom right). The axeheads were fixed into a wooden handle and used like axes today. The flint core was the raw material from which other tools could be made. Scrapers were used for cleaning animal skins in the process of making leather. Burins were used for carving or engraving wood and bone, like a chisel. Blades were used as knives and microliths were tiny flints that were glued/fixed to wooden shafts to make arrows or spears for hunting.

Location

N/A N/A

Period

Prehistoric (to AD42)

Themes

Tags

stone tool work prehistoric stone age mesolithic