Flint blade hand tool, Stone Age.

Flint blade hand tool (from Jensen collection), European, Stone Age.

Important early technologies such as tools, shelter, metalworking, lighting, potter and glass-making radically changed people's way of life. These advances were largely the result of people living settled lives, rather than hunting and gathering. Being settled certainly gave Neolithic ('new stone age') flint-knappers a chance to take more pride in their work than their Palaeolithic ('old stone age') counterparts: there is a polished surface around the top of the blade.