Tools and Equipment
Awl
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A short pointed shaft set into a handle, pushed by hand to pierce leather, wood or basketry rather than cutting it, starting a hole a needle or nail can then follow. The stitching awl of the leatherworker and the bradawl of the woodworker are the same idea in different hands, among the oldest and simplest tools people still make and use.
Facts
Introduced When (Circa)Middle Stone Age, evidenced by bone awls recovered from Blombos Cave, South Africa, dated to roughly 70,000 years ago 1 The oldest excavated bone tools generally are dated to about 1.5 million years ago in Africa; awls specifically are well attested at Blombos Cave and at later sites, but no single point of invention is recorded. OriginBone awls are among the tools recovered from the Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave, alongside other bone tools; the two uses scholars generally agree on are as manipulators in basketry and as perforators in hide working. The bradawl, a straight bladed variant for starting holes in wood, is the woodworker's own descendant of the same idea. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
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