Object of the month: Scrapers

Scrapers

The people of the stone age made tools of many shapes and sizes. Some of them are well known such as the arrowheads, spearpoints and axes. A lesser-known artefact is the scraper. A scraper was used for hidework. Hides and fur was essential in the stone age and was the starting point for different items such as clothing, tents, boats and so on. Different hides have different qualities and serve different purposes. The process of hidework has multiple steps, and scraping is one of the first. The point is to scrape off all the meat and fat to make the hide perfectly clean. The scraper is also used to remove the fur from the hide, for example if the hide is to be used for hideboats.

Here you can see a selection of scrapers from the stone age. These scrapers are made from chert and quartzite.