Stone tools and objects are often the most common feature of Aboriginal archaeological sites. Their durability, in contrast to organic items such as birchbark baskets (which decompose quickly due to the acidic soil of the boreal forest), means that stone artifacts are often the only remaining sign of past human activity.

The early material culture of the Dene included many stone tools: hide scrapers to clean animal skins; knives to cut meat and carve wood; spear and arrowheads for hunting; and adzes (a forerunner to the modern axe) for cutting down trees and crafting large pieces of wood.

Such tools offer important clues about how the Dene lived thousand of years ago. Vital tasks such as hunting, butchering animals, and making clothing and skin lodges were all carried out with the use of stone implements.