Paleolithic Weapons

Lasting for over one million years, the Paleolithic Era set the stage for technology today (McNeese 4). The people who derive from that era are often looked at as the cavemen of timelines. However, this idea is far from the truth. They paralleled the same characteristics as Native Americans. Native Americans are known for their nomad travelling style, as well as theories such as agriculture or even weaponry. Native Americans were not the first to hunt animals and did not come up with the idea of using stone as arrowheads or to move with the herds of game they were hunting. The individuals from the Paleolithic age came up with the first successful tools and weapons on Earth (Gosse 1). The first weapons were created without safety in mind. Thankfully, the evolution of technology has made today’s weapons much safer. The weapons we know and use derive from this time period (Gosse 1). People in this era had nomadic characteristics and

A particular stone called flint was the material of choice. Flint is a very high-grained stone which made it easy to conform into arrowheads. Flint also made fire easy to ignite (Gosse 1). Stone would be shaped into blades for knives or things such as scrapers. These particular tools would be used for activities such as hunting, skinning an animal, butchering the meat and for the meat processing (Chuntaek 878). Similar to today’s theories, the sharper stone blades were used for materials that were dense and hard to cut through while the duller blades were used for thin materials to effectively cut materials (Gosse 1). Fragments of flint were often used as cutlery (Ross 1). Stone was the preferred choice simply because it was heavier and provided a deep penetration of the target. Stone also tends to be able to be thrown further at a target due to the end being heavy. Heavier stones were used as spearheads (Chuntaek 878). Thinner stone was found to work well as arrowheads (Gosse