Was the Stone Age the Wood Age?

Tool materials and techniques

• Commenters note that “Stone Age” technology heavily relied on wood, bone, and antler.
• Soft hammers of wood or bone were used to shape stone more precisely than stone-on-stone, reducing breakage and required skill.
• Wooden shafts plus stone points (spears, later arrows) are highlighted, with glue from tree sap or boiled animal parts as a surprisingly sophisticated technology.

Era naming and survivorship bias

• Several point out that eras are named after what survives archaeologically; because wood decays, “Stone Age” reflects survivorship bias.
• Others stress that most stone artifacts are not weapons but tools for food, clothing, and working wood.
• There is brief mention that ancient cultures and even Greeks had “wood age” concepts.

Preservation, deep time, and hidden civilizations

• Discussion branches into whether an earlier intelligent or even industrial civilization could have existed unnoticed.
• One view: without large-scale mining, construction, and agriculture, fossils or artifacts would be extremely unlikely unless the species lasted millions of years.
• Counterview: advanced civilizations leave robust traces—mines, large excavations, ocean-floor debris, shell middens, charcoal, and modified plants/animals.
• Debate over timescales: 13k–50k years might erase much via erosion and glaciation, but some argue that truly large industrial works (e.g., massive open-pit mines) would persist through ice ages.
• Some references to geological records (anoxic events, ancient coal/oil, banded iron) in thinking about deep-time industrial impacts.

Intelligence, evolution, and civilization

• Some argue intelligent species may avoid civilization; others reply that evolution mainly “solves” problems via extinction and replacement, and that technological civilization can be highly successful in reproductive terms.

Wood, construction, and regional differences

• Strong theme that “every age is the wood age”: wood remains central in housing, infrastructure, and electrical grids.
• Debate over how much modern Europe vs. the Americas use structural wood versus concrete/brick; consensus that wood is nearly universal at least in roofs, interiors, and framing, with big regional and economic differences.
• Cost, strength, stiffness, and material availability are discussed in detail when comparing concrete, steel, brick, and wood.

String and rope as foundational tech

• A subthread suggests a “String Age”: cordage is framed as fundamental for tools, binding, and complex structures.
• Some skepticism about short-form video as a serious information source, but agreement that ropes and tension-based systems were critical in some cultures.