The tool was made of a beaver’s jaw about ten thousand years ago. People who lived in the Stone Age used it as a carpentry tool, or a planing knife. It is made of the teeth of an adult beaver of seven to fifteen years of age.

The beaver has two fangs or incisors on the upper jaw, and two incisors on the lower jaw. Behind, there is a cavity with no teeth, and further on, molars are located, to grind small branches and bark. This is why the surface of the molars is very rough.

Ancient people used halves of a beaver’s lower jaw as a nature-made cutting tool: the front teeth were the blade, and the bone shaft served as a hilt. The jaw has three processes: coronoid, articular and wide angular process at the end of the jaw. Usually the coronoid process was broken off, because it made it difficult to hold the tool securely when working. Its stub and all protruding parts were carefully smoothed, and then polished with a piece of soft leather. Sometimes the articular process was removed, if it was too long.

The tool was found during archaeological excavations at the Gorbunovsky peat bog, which was located near the city of Nizhny Tagil, Sverdlovsk Region. At the beginning of the 20th century, archaeologists discovered the remains of ancient settlements in peat layers. Based on the artifacts found at this place, researchers identified a unique Gorbunovsky archaeological culture.