Despite the perfection of stone tools , the productivity of labour remained at a very low level . A drastic change in the productive forces of society took place in the 6th - 4th mil lennia B.C. , when man began to make his tools of metal . The use of metal tools resulted in a rise in the productive forces , significantly increasing the productivity of labour and , finally , bringing about a change in production relations and the life of humanity in general . In his constant search for materials from which to fashion his tools , primitive man came upon natural copper , a metal that could change its shape under the blows of a flint chop per . Man made use of these qualities , learning to make axes , knives , arrowheads and spear tips from copper . New materials and metal for tools were first used in the 6th millennium B.C. in various regions of Asia , Africa and Europe . Man learned to smelt metal in the 4th millennium B.C. in Africa , Asia Minor and India . He learned to make alloys of copper and tin . In the beginning , there was very little natural metal and , since it was of a very poor quality , it was a long time before man could give up his flint tools . Using tools of copper , bronze and , finally , iron he could work stone , wood , bone and horn with great skill , he learned to make metal hoes , scythes and other implements . It was at this time also that people began building their first large wooden houses .
Man tried to copy the movements of his own hands in the simplest of mechanisms . Thus , the potter's wheel and the first loom ' came into being . These first mechanisms improved the quality of the goods produced and raised the produc tivity of labour considerably .
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