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Ancient humans may have risked their lives making stone tools

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

Metin Eren at Kent State University demonstrates flintknapping to make stone tools

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 …

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