Editing Hammerstone (section)

==Usage==
Hammerstones are or were used to produce flakes and [[hand axe]]s as well as more specialist tools from materials such as [[flint]] and [[chert]]. They were applied to the edges of such stones so that the [[impact force]]s caused brittle fractures, and loss of flakes for example. They were also widely used to reduce the bulk of other hard stones such as [[jade]], [[jadeite]] and [[hornstone]] to make polished [[stone tool]]s. A good example is the hornstone found in the [[English Lake District]] used to make polished axes during the early [[Neolithic period]], and known as the [[Langdale axe industry]].

Hammerstones were used widely in crushing mineral ores such as [[malachite]] during the [[Chalcolithic]] period, the earliest part of the [[Bronze Age]], and [[cassiterite]] prior to smelting of [[tin]]. [[Iron ores]] would have been crushed to powder in a similar way during the [[Iron Age]]. Such crushing was needed to hasten and encourage reduction in the furnaces where [[charcoal]] was the main [[reducing agent]].

Other examples of their use include reducing minerals like [[haematite]] to powder, for [[pigment]], and crushing of hard nuts, such as [[hazel nut]]s, to extract the edible kernels.