Selected natural materials in history

Abstract

1 Technology of natural materials Early man used conveniently shaped stones as tools."Workshop" areas have been found with large numbers of stones, some showing signs of being worked[1].However, organic materials like wood will decay under normal wet conditions in the presence of oxygen, so we won't find the same sort of evidence for wooden tools. It is safe to assume that early man used sticks as probes and clubs, and maybe even for making some sort of nestlike protection against the elements and predators, since we see chimpanzees and other animals doing this sort of thing. So wood, and almost certainly other plant materials such as fibrous leaves, and bone and other materials gleaned from dead animals, would be used from the earliest times. We need to know this in order to establish the idea that Man can be expected to have a long history of the use and manipulation of natural materials. This needs skills in choosing materials for certain uses on the basis of their mechanical properties,whether those properties are to do with the ease of shaping the material or the effectiveness of that material in use. Occasionally the material was chosen simply because it was readily available. If we find that a particular material was always used for a certain job, it's reasonable to deduce that Man was exerting materials selection criteria through experience.