Editing Stone tool (section)

==Aboriginal Australian use==

[[Stone axe]]s from 35,000 years ago are the earliest known use of a stone tool in Australia. Other stone tools varied in type and use among various [[Aboriginal Australian]] peoples, dependent on geographical regions and the type and structure of the tools varied among the different cultural and linguistic groups. The locations of the various artefacts, as well as whole geologic features, demarcated territorial and cultural boundaries of various linguistic and cultural groups' lands. They developed trade networks, and showed sophistication in working many different types of stone for many different uses, including as tools, food utensils and weapons, and modified their stone tools over the millennia to adapt to changing environments. [[Oral traditions]] carried the skills down through the ages.<ref name="Poll 2017">{{cite web | last=Poll | first=Matt | title=Written in stone: Understand Aboriginal Stone Tools | website=Medium | date=20 February 2017 | url=https://medium.com/@mattpoll2/written-in-stone-understand-aboriginal-stone-tools-3ca392cef994 | access-date=24 January 2022}}</ref>

Complex stone tools were used by the [[Gunditjmara]] of western [[Victoria, Australia|Victoria]]<ref name=bissland2018/> until relatively recently.<ref name=conv2018/> Many examples are now held in museums.<ref name=bissland2018>{{cite web | last=Bissland | first=Emily | title=Gunditjmara stone tools found in University collection sparks art exhibition and hopes of repatriation  | website=ABC News |publisher= [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] | date=23 January 2022 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-23/gunditjmara-tools-leonhard-adam-collection-sparks-exhibition/100659198 | access-date=24 January 2022}}</ref><ref name="Poll 2017"/>

Flaked stone tools were made by extracting a sharp fragment of stone from a larger piece, called a core, by hitting it with a "hammerstone". Both the flakes and the hammerstones could be used as tools. The best types of stone for these tools are hard, brittle stones, rich in [[silica]], such as [[quartzite]], [[chert]], flint, [[silcrete]] and [[quartz]] (the latter particularly in the [[Kimberleys]] of [[Western Australia]]<ref name="Poll 2017"/>). These were quarried from [[bedrock]] or collected as pebbles from watercourses and beaches, and often carried for long distances.<ref name=firstvic>{{cite web | title=Fact sheet: Aboriginal flaked stone tools | website=First Peoples| publisher= [[Victoria State Government]] | url=http://www.firstpeoplesrelations.vic.gov.au/fact-sheet-aboriginal-flaked-stone-tools | access-date=24 January 2022}}</ref> The flake could be used immediately for cutting or scraping, but were sometimes modified in a process called reduction to sharpen or resharpen the flake.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.aboriginalheritage.tas.gov.au/cultural-heritage/aboriginal-stone-artefacts| publisher= Government| title=Aboriginal Stone Artefacts|date= 13 November 2017| access-date=24 January 2022}}</ref>

Across northern Australia, especially in [[Arnhem Land]], the "Leilira blade", a rectangular stone flake shaped by striking quartzite or silcrete stone, was used as a spear tip and also as a knife, sometimes {{cvt|30|cm}} long. Tasmania did not have spears or stone axes, but the peoples there used tools which were adapted to the climate and environment, such as the use of [[spongolite]]. In north-western Australia, "Kimberley point", a small triangular stone point, was created using [[kangaroo]] bone which had been shaped with stone into an awl, to make small [[serration]]s in the blade.<ref name="Poll 2017"/>

Apart from being used as weapons and for cutting, grinding ([[grindstone]]s), piercing and pounding, some stones, notably [[ochre]]s, were used as [[pigment]] for painting.<ref name="Poll 2017"/>