A close-up of rustic stone arrowheads and pendants on a wooden board, highlighting natural textures.

It started with a sharp rock

Manufacturing did not begin in a factory. It began at least 2.3 million years ago, when early humans struck stone cores to make sharp-edged tools.

Manufacturing Before Factories

Close-up of hands arranging sticks to start a campfire in a forest adventure setting.

One stone, many blades

Later methods became much smarter. In the Middle Paleolithic, people prepared a stone core so it could produce multiple blades quickly. They also used pressure flaking for finer control.

Manufacturing Before Factories