Stone tools: Did you mean...?

The Moabite Stone, an ancient tablet dating to around 850 BCE, written by Mesha, the king of Moab (modern Jordan). (Louvre Museum, Paris)

Homo heidelbergensis is an extinct species of human that is identified in both Africa and western Eurasia from roughly 700,000 years ago onwards until around 200,000 years ago – fitting snugly within the Middle Pleistocene. Named for a piece...

A replica of the Stone of Scone (aka Stone of Destiny) at Scone, Perthshire, Scotland. The stone was used in the coronation ceremonies of Scottish medieval kings before its transferral to Westminster Abbey in 1297 CE. The original stone...

The Viking Age Snaptun stone was carved around 1000 CE and shows a face with stitched-up lips, which reminds of a story preserved in the Prose Edda where the Norse god's Loki’s lips are sewn up. As such, it is usually thought to be one of...

The Intihuatana Stone or 'Hitching Post of the Sun' at Machu Picchu in the High Andes. The stone was used by Inca priests for astronomical observations, especially of the sun. In ceremonies during the solstices the priests symbollically tied...

On Cannon Street in the City of London, you can watch the London Stone. The stone's origin is unknown, but its importance as a landmark throughout London’s long history is almost incomparable, especially when thinking about the simplicity...

The Rosetta Stone is an incomplete grey and pink granodiorite stela dating from 196 BCE which presents a priestly decree concerning King Ptolemy V of Egypt. The text is in three different versions: Hieroglyphic, Demotic and Greek. The stone...

This is a zoomed-in detail of the upper part of the Rosetta stone showing the hieroglyphic inscription. The Rosetta Stone is a large, mostly complete fragment of a grey-pink granodiorite stela. A decree was carved on this stela using 3 ancient...

This is a zoomed-in detail of the middle part of the Rosetta stone showing the Demotic text. The Rosetta Stone is a large almost complete fragment of a grey-pink granodiorite stela. A decree was carved on this stela using 3 ancient texts...

Rectangular stone foundation document of the Assyrian king Adad-Nirari I. It recounts the king's victories over the Mitanni, who had failed to gain Hittite support, and the extension of Assyrian rule west to the Euphrates. The stone appears...