And yet not only were they working with stone but they were working with big stones.
They thought that metal was first worked in the middle east around 4200 BC. They they found Varna. And found worked metal from 4600 BC and in Europe.
And now they found a copper chisel that is from 5500BC in Prokuplje Serbia.
The more we find the more the dates keep getting pushed back.
Saying "before we know metal was used" is correct. Saying "before metal was used" is not.
People have worked with stone for 100s of 1000s of years, including some possible small images of animals and such; one apparent stylized statue of a human dates back 400K years. Stone was used to work stone at this site. But it appears you’re really just objecting to the writing in the article.