The agate tool was uncovered under a thick layer of volcanic ash . It was used for cutting hides , butchering meat , and carving wood . This is the first time that we have found evidence of stone tools in an archaeological site from this period. If the date of Rimrock holds up , it would put people at the site about 1,500 years earlier that thought , at the end of the Pleistocene era .
The agate tool was uncovered under a thick layer of volcanic ash . It was used for cutting hides , butchering meat , and carving wood . Find was made at Rimrock Draw Rockshelter in southeast Oregon . If the date of Rimrock holds up , it would put people at the site about 1,500 years earlier that thought , at the end of the Pleistocene era .