Stone Tool Maker: Ancient Hands

Ancient Hands turns a museum wall into a workshop. Two portrait touch screens sit side by side under the Stone Tool Making sign, each a short, timed game.

On one, you step into the Palaeolithic and learn how early humans made essential stone tools. On the other, you move to the Microlithic period and haft small, sharp tools onto handles.

Pick a core stone, then drag a large pebble, a small pebble or an antler onto it. A power meter shows how hard you strike, and on-screen prompts guide each step: remove large flakes, shape one face, then the other, then refine the edge.

• a timer keeps each round short, so the queue keeps moving,
• finish and you've crafted a Palaeolithic chopping tool,
• a Today's Top Toolmakers board turns it into a friendly competition.

Since opening, the wall has drawn families, school groups and crowds of visitors, from small children lifted up to the screen to students racing the timer. These are real photos from the museum floor.

Every screen, prompt and label works in both English and Tamil, so the language never gets between visitors and the experience.