Many different animals besides humans use tools, but making such diverse and specialized tools is a trait characteristic of our species in particular. These skills separate humans from other primates. Prehistoric tools were made from many different types of materials, including stone, wood, animal bones, and antlers. Eventually modern humans learned how to make tools out of metals like copper and iron. Early tools come in many varieties, including points for spears and arrows, axes, sinkers, atlatls, digging sticks, knives, drills, scrapers, awls, and others. Tools allowed humans to become skilled hunters and fisherman. Prehistoric humans also used stone tools to help them perform daily activities. Tools like axes, scrapers, and awls were used to process animal kills for food preparation and to turn animal hides into clothing. Prehistoric humans also used tools to work wood and plant materials into shelters. By using tools, humans exerted some control over their environment and were able to influence and change it. This allowed them to live in more diverse climates and spread throughout the world.

Archaeologists are always trying to understand how prehistoric humans lived. One way they do this is by recreating past peoples' daily activities using the artifacts left behind in the archaeological record. This type of archaeology is known as experimental archaeology. One activity that archaeologists have replicated is the process of making stone tools or flintknapping. Flintknapping is the process of removing flakes from a stone core in order to shape the core into a tool or make flakes for use as tools themselves. The toolmaker strikes the stone intentionally to get the desired shape, size, and sharpness. The first stone tools were made by hammering, or simply by striking one stone with either another stone or a tool made from antler or bone. Later tools, like arrow points, were made by using a technique known as pressure flaking. In this process, humans applied pressure against the flake rather than striking to remove it. Pressure flaking is much more accurate than hammering. After the general shape of the tool is established, it can be further refined, polished, and sharpened over time. Archaeologists have learned about flintknapping by studying the many examples they have found of flakes and cores that were discarded during the process of making stone tools.

The discipline of archaeology has changed dramatically since the time when average people were searching for strange or exotic objects. Today's archaeologists carefully excavate sites by recording the context and stratigraphic relationship of the objects they recover. Archaeologists are careful to take detailed notes during the entire process. When people continue to live in the same location for a long period of time, they build on the remains of those who lived there before, thus creating layers of remains that can be studied to learn how people lived and how they interacted with other groups. Excavation, however, is only part of the process of archaeology. Today the archaeologist may use techniques of the chemical or physical sciences to study materials used in the past and to determine where they were made and if they were brought into a site from somewhere else. Another approach is that of experimental archaeology where archaeologists attempt to recreate the objects of the past to understand the process by which the objects were made. Examples of experimental archaeology might be making tools (e.g., flintknapping) or by attempting to recreate some special type of pottery.