Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 July 1891 — The Stone Age. [ARTICLE]

The Stone Age.

July St. NicholM. From the tools that are found in thjsse lake dwellings, in the caves and in peat beds, we suppose that there were three distinct periods in the life

of mankind. First came the Stont Age, in which tools and weapon* were made of stone; second, th< Bronze Age, in which they were cA bronze; and third, the Iron Age, is which iron implements appear. We must remember that when the first men lived they had no tools'to work with, nor weapons with which to battle against wild beasts. When thrown upon theif own resources to defend themselves they probablv threw stones. I think a small boy s first instinct in fighting is to thro# things. They soon found that sharp stones were* the most effective, so they began to rub them together to sharpen them. They next put pointed stones on the end of sticks and made spears. To cut up the flesh of animals they made stone knives. They discovered the use of the bow and arrow, for some of the sharpened stones that are found must certainly have been arrow heads. They made hammers, and axes, and chisels of stone. All these were chipped so as tc give them a cutting edge. They made great stone mortars and pestles for grinding corn. At first there was little ornament, but toward the last of the Stone Age the knives had carved bone handles, and even necklaces are found of roughly-carved amber beads. ~ They had no combs, nor pins, nor needles, nor thread in the earliest times, but they soon -found out that thev could fasten things togethei witli the fibres of plants or wit& thongs made from the skins of animals. They made implements of horn which served for needles. They early discovered the use of fire. Mayb’« men first got fire from a volcano, oi they may have dropped or struck one piece of flint on another and havt seen the spark. It may be that it set something on fire and they felt the effect —the warmth.