Editing Tool (section)

{{Short description|Object used to achieve a goal}}
{{other uses}}
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[[File:MaryRose-carpentry tools1.jpg|thumb|Carpentry tools recovered from the wreck of the ''[[Mary Rose]]'', a 16th-century [[sailing ship]]—from the top: a [[mallet]], [[Brace (tool)|brace]], and [[Plane (tool)|plane]], the handles of a [[Auger (drill)|T-auger]] and [[Gimlet (tool)|gimlet]], possibly the handle of a [[hammer]], and a [[Ruler|rule]].]]
A '''tool''' is an [[Physical object|object]] that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many [[Tool use by animals|animals use simple tools]], only human beings, whose use of [[stone tool]]s dates back hundreds of millennia, have been observed using tools to make other tools.

Early human tools, made of such materials as [[Rock (geology)|stone]], [[bone]], and [[wood]], were used for the preparation of [[food]], [[hunting]], the manufacture of [[weapon]]s, and the working of materials to produce [[clothing]] and useful [[Cultural artifact|artifacts]] and [[craft]]s such as [[pottery]], along with the construction of [[housing]], [[business]]es, [[infrastructure]], and [[transport]]ation. The development of [[metalworking]] made additional types of tools possible. Harnessing [[energy sources]], such as [[Working animal|animal power]], [[wind]], or [[steam]], allowed increasingly complex tools to produce an even larger range of items, with the [[Industrial Revolution]] marking an inflection point in the use of tools. The introduction of widespread [[automation]] in the 19th and 20th centuries allowed tools to operate with minimal human supervision, further increasing the productivity of [[Work (human activity)|human labor]].

By extension, [[concept]]s that support systematic or investigative thought are often referred to as "tools" or "toolkits".