I do like the new blade tools. They give you much more cutting edge for the amount of stone used and can be turned into specialised tools, like knives, scrapers, points and drills.
Yes, I know the arguments against them. Weapons are sharper, making conflicts potentially more lethal. Even the tools can be dangerous to those who don’t know how to use them. And the new tech is putting the traditional hand-axe makers out of a job.
Worse, the manufacture of the new toolset is in the hands (literally) of a specialised set of makers who increasingly control the flow of tools from tribe to tribe, overwriting the traditional honour of trade and changing the way we see each other as people.
But think of the advantages. We can now skin and butcher a whole animal in less than a day. Hunting is safer because spears can be thrown from a greater distance. Whole new technologies are possible – like the rumoured bow-and-arrow hunting device from the South which can injure and weaken an animal without the hunter even needing to approach it.
Ultimately, all this means more food for everyone, less time spent hunting and foraging, more time to rest and feed the spirit.
So it’s inevitable, I think, that the new tools will be adopted by everyone, and the old ways will change. We just have to work out how to live with it.
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