HUMAN HANDICRAFT AND PAINTING, TOOLS

, HOME EQUIPMENTS, HOME DESIGN.

FROM STONE AGE TO MEDIEVAL PERIOD.

• NAZEEH SAMEER
• DR. KAHTAN ALHADA
 INTRODUCTION

The Stone Age marks a period of prehistory in which

humans used primitive stone tools. Lasting roughly 2.5
million years, the Stone Age ended around 5,000 years
ago when humans in the Near East began working with
metal and making tools and weapons from bronze.

The period of European history extending from about

500 to 1400–1500 ce is traditionally known as the
Middle Ages. The term was first used by 15th-century
scholars to designate the period between their own
time and the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
• Stone tools and other artifacts offer evidence about how
early humans made things, how they lived, interacted with
their surroundings, and evolved over time. Spanning the
past 2.6 million years, many thousands of archeological
sites have been excavated, studied, and dated. These
sites often consist of the accumulated debris from making
and using stone tools. Because stone tools are less
susceptible to destruction than bones, stone artifacts
typically offer the best evidence of where and when early
humans lived, their geographic dispersal, and their ability
to survive in a variety of habitats. But since multiple
hominine species often existed at the same time, it can be
difficult to determine which species made the tools at any
given site. Most important is that stone tools provide
evidence about the technologies, dexterity, particular kinds
of mental skills, and innovations that were within the grasp
of early human toolmakers.

• Explore some examples of Early Stone Age tools. The

earliest stone tool making developed by at least 2.6
million years ago. The Early Stone Age began with the
most basic stone implements made by early humans.
These Oldowan toolkits include hammer stones, stone
cores, and sharp stone flakes. By about 1.76 million years
ago, early humans began to make Acheulean handaxes
and other large cutting tools.
• The primary stone working tools would be familiar to modern masons. A
variety of hammers and chisels were used to shape the stone and trowels
were used to spread mortars. Stone was much more difficult to move
before the invention of motors though. Wheelbarrows, carts drawn by men
or animals and baskets were used to haul stone. Frequently a system of
pulleys were used to lift stone to heights. Levels at the time included a line
which would hang down the wall. If the level was flat the line would match
up to marks drawn with a straight edge.
.
• The tools used by medieval carpenters were very similar to those used by
carpenters in ages before and since. Saws, hatchets and axes were used
to cut wood. Chisels and gouges were used for finer cutting and shaping.
Augers, gimlets and braces were all used to bore fine holes. Mallets were
used to insert wooden pegs into the holes, and hammers were used to
drive iron nails.

• The greatest variety of tools among medieval craftspeople probably

belonged to the blacksmith. Anvils were used as a platform to hammer and
shape metal. Bellows were used to keep the fires hot and tongs were used
to put things into or take things out of the fire. The blacksmith had a variety
of hammers in different shapes and sizes for various purposes, including
sledgehammers. Swages were tools with a variety of shapes and grooves
made for imprinting on the metal; the swage would be placed on top of a
hot piece of metal and struck with a hammer to form an impression. A
swage block was used for heading bolts and for swaging large items.
Punches were used for making holes in metal, and drifts were used for
shaping holes.
• Stone Age houses were rectangular and constructed from
timber, Some houses used wattle (woven wood) and daub
(mud and straw) for the walls and had thatched roofs.

• Stone Age people sheltered in caves. These were great as

they provided ready-made homes. Later, homes in the Stone
Age were made from wood. ... These homes were built into
mounds (known as midden) of small stones, shells, animal
bones and mud which would make sure the homes were
strong and stayed warm.

• The Middle Ages homes were cold, damp, and dark.

Sometimes it was warmer and lighter outside the home than
within its walls. For security purposes, windows, when they
were present, were very small openings with wooden
shutters that were closed at night or in bad weather.

• Medieval houses had a timber frame. Panels that did not

carry loads were filled with wattle and daub. Wattle was
made by weaving twigs in and out of uprights. Hazel twigs
were the most popular with Medieval builders.
 REFERENCES :

• https://www.thefinertimes.com/crafts-in-the-middle-ages

• https://www.britannica.com/art/interior-design/Middle-Ages
• https://humanorigins.si.edu/human-characteristics/tools-food

• https://www.twinkl.co.uk/homework-help/history-homework-help/the-stone-age-facts-for-
kids/what-were-houses-like-during-the-stone-age

• https://www.americanscientist.org/article/prehistoric-arts-and-crafts

• https://www.learner.org/wp-content/interactive/middleages/homes.html

• https://www.history.com/topics/pre-history/stone-age
• https://www.dreamstime.com/house-evolution-set-stone-cave-to-medieval-castle-to-modern-
building-house-evolution-set-stone-cave-to-medieval-castle-image193088896
• https://www.history.com/news/prehistoric-ages-timeline