During my time in college I managed to sit in on a group of archaeology students making Oldowan stone tools in the university quadrangle. I had no idea how much

During my time in college I managed to sit in on a group of archaeology students making Oldowan stone tools in the university quadrangle. I had no idea how much knowledge and skill it takes to make these seemingly simple tools. It is not just banging rocks together, it requires finesse. I felt a sense of awe when I realized just how much trial and error must have went into learning how to make such tools. With how many cuts and bruises we inflicted on ourselves, I came to view the technology as something invaluable and precious. We had the benefit of washing our hands, who knows just how many of our pioneering ancestors had gotten an infection and died while trying to make a better cutting tool - or lost an eye from a rock chip? And these folks may well have been “the crazy ones” or the more intelligent members of the tribe. I could easily see how countless generations would wind up making the same tools with the same process. If you asked me how to make more ‘advanced’ hand axes I’d struggle to come up with something better.