This study is based on analysis of sandstone tools from thirty or so early Neolithic settlement sites from the Paris Basin, Hainaut and Hesbaye, dating to the Bandkeramik (Rubané) and Villeneuve-Saint-Germain cultures. Almost ten thousand objects, including seven hundred tools, were examined in terms of typology, technology and function. The work shows how knowledge of the integration of sandstone tools in the technological system can advance our general understanding of everyday domestic activities in Neolithic societies.