Step1
Read about the area where you found your stone
"tool" or "manufacturing site" or where you plan to explore and the
type of stone local to that area. Also read the works of archaeologists
and the history of the people who once lived there (or nearby).
Finally, read about or watch video documentaries that explore stone
tool manufacture and reproduction.
Step2
Look around the area near your "site" for
additional signs of Stone Age human habitation. This may seem like
common sense, but many amateur Stone Age tool hunters forget that the
Stone Age toolkit not only consisted of arrow heads, axes and scrapers,
but included stone implements such as grinding stones in various shapes
and sizes (look for unnaturally shaped ground surfaces, smoothness, and
scratches or rubbed in grooves). Grinding stones (especially heavy,
long food and grain grinding slabs), along with other archaeological
evidence such as post holes and hearths, point directly to human
habitation.
Step3
Identify the type of stone located at your "site."
Prehistoric humans used fine-grained or non-crystalline stone (for
example, flint, quartz, shale, obsidian, et cetera) that easily flakes
when percussed to make some tools. Flaking stone by hitting one stone
(the percussor or hammerstone) against another (the core), produced
flakes of stone, and continued flaking created serrated edges for
cutting.
Step4
Search for local stone or large local raw material
sources (for example, rocky outcrops or river beds) within a several
mile range of your "site" as prehistoric humans tended to use readily
available stone to manufacture tools. Evidence of manufacturing may be
at the source site and not your own. If the "tool" at your site is not
made of local stone, then you likely have a true artifact. The
archaeological record and modern anthropological studies suggest that
hard-to-find stone materials and/or tools were traded between
prehistoric peoples just as modern humans trade goods.
Step5
Review the tool making trends of each of the Stone
"Ages" (i.e. Paleolithic: "Old Stone Age," Mesolithic: "Middle Stone
Age" and Neolithic: "New Stone Age") and compare to your "site"
findings.
Step6
Think ergonomics and hold your stone "tool" in
your hand. Stone scrapers, made to easily fit in the hand, often
included a "thumb rest."