Already prehistoric humans used tools to facilitate agriculture.

The very first and simplest of these was a wooden digging stick, which was sharpened in a certain way. This tool was used by some peoples for a long time, even after the transition from gathering to farming. Many people still use a digging stick today, for example, the inhabitants of South Sudan and indigenous Australians.

As humanity developed, the digging stick was refined by adding various items that suited its form. For example, flat stone chips and animal bones. There is a hypothesis that the name of one of the human bones — “scapula” — comes precisely from the name of this tool.

Later, shovels began to be carved from a single piece of wood and given a flat working surface. Then, for strength, they began to be sheathed with metal. Wooden shovels have been used for many centuries, up to the beginning of the 20th century.

With the advent of the Metal Age, first copper and bronze, and then metallic tools, including shovels, appeared. After the first metal shovels were made, there was some stagnation in the development of this agricultural tool. This was probably due to its narrow purpose: this tool was used only for soil cultivation and digging holes in the ground.

The modernization of the shovel began with the emergence of more complex forms of society — civilizations, when people began to build cities and states. New materials and technologies appeared, and the tool began to be used in construction.

Further improvements to shovels followed the principle of specialization, resulting in a variety of types, each suited for specific activities.

In the Jurchen Empire, shovels were widely used, as evidenced by the results of archaeological excavations of settlements in the Primorsky Krai. This agricultural tool was used not only for cultivating the land but also for the construction of numerous fortresses and defensive structures. The shovel displayed at the Spassk-Dalny Museum was made by Jurchen craftsmen.