Neanderthal Tools

Part of Hall of Human Origins.

A display of eight small chipped-stone tools.

Some 300,000 years ago, a new tool-making technique produced a sharp-edged flake of stone. Neanderthals were masters of this technique and made a wide variety of sharp tools.

Neanderthals made spear points with a stone or soft hammer. Traces of adhesive on some stone points suggest they were once attached to wooden shafts, perhaps glued with resin or tar and bound with plant fibers, sinew, or leather.