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121-468: Acheulean tools were produced during the Lower Palaeolithic era across Africa and much of West Asia, South Asia, East Asia and Europe, and are typically found with Homo erectus remains. It is thought that Acheulean technologies first developed about 2 million years ago, derived from the more primitive Oldowan technology associated with Homo habilis . The Acheulean includes at least

242-520: A conchoidal fracture . With early hand axes, it is easy to improvise their manufacture, correct mistakes without requiring detailed planning, and no long or demanding apprenticeship is necessary to learn the necessary techniques. These factors combine to allow these objects to remain in use throughout pre-history. Their adaptability makes them effective in a variety of tasks, from heavy duty such as digging in soil, felling trees or breaking bones to delicate such as cutting ligaments, slicing meat or perforating

363-686: A British geologist and palaeontologist , discovered 1.5 million-year-old prehistoric human teeth and part of a jaw indicating that ancient people , intelligent hominins dating as far back as 1,500,000 ybp Acheulean period, lived in the Pinjore region near Chandigarh . Quartzite tools of the lower Paleolithic period were excavated in this region extending from Pinjore in Haryana to Nalagarh ( Solan district in Himachal Pradesh). The lands of Gujarat has been continuously inhabited from

484-474: A British publication in 1800. Until that time, their origins were thought to be natural or supernatural. They were called thunderstones , because popular tradition held that they had fallen from the sky during storms or were formed inside the earth by a lightning strike and then appeared at the surface. They are used in some rural areas as an amulet to protect against storms. Handaxes are generally thought to have been primarily used as cutting tools, with

605-436: A criterion of mate choice." Miller followed their example and said that hand axes have characteristics that make them subject to sexual selection, such as that they were made for over a million years throughout Africa, Europe and Asia, they were made in large numbers, and most were impractical for utilitarian use. He claimed that a single design persisting across time and space cannot be explained by cultural imitation and draws

726-684: A cultural or ritual use. Miller thinks that the most important clue is that under electron microscopy hand axes show no signs of use or evidence of edge wear. Others argue that little evidence for use-wear simply relates to the particular sedimentological conditions, rather than being evidence of discarding without use. It has been noted that hand axes can be good handicaps in Zahavi 's handicap principle theory: learning costs are high, risks of injury, they require physical strength, hand-eye coordination, planning, patience, pain tolerance and resistance to infection from cuts and bruises when making or using such

847-451: A flimsy wood or animal skin structure would leave few archaeological traces after so much time. Fire was seemingly being exploited by Homo ergaster , and would have been a necessity in colonising colder Eurasia from Africa. Conclusive evidence of mastery over it this early is, however, difficult to find. Lower Palaeolithic Fertile Crescent : Europe : Africa : Siberia : The Lower Paleolithic (or Lower Palaeolithic )

968-496: A functional purpose. Recently, it has been suggested that the Acheulean tool users adopted the handaxe as a social artifact, meaning that it embodied something beyond its function of a butchery or wood cutting tool. Knowing how to create and use these tools would have been a valuable skill and the more elaborate ones suggest that they played a role in their owners' identity and their interactions with others. This would help explain

1089-434: A group gathering, it is suggested that they would discard their axes, perhaps explaining why so many are found together. This popular sexual selection hypothesis is controversial due to the assumptions made about sexual selection among extinct organisms. Stone knapping with limited digital dexterity makes the center of mass the required direction of flake removal. Physics then dictates a circular or oval end pattern, similar to

1210-430: A hand axe. The use-wear analysis of Palaeolithic hand axes is carried out on findings from emblematic sites across nearly all of Western Europe. Keeley and Semenov were the pioneers of this specialized investigation. Keeley stated, " The morphology of typical hand axes suggests a greater range of potential activities than those of flakes " . Many problems need to be overcome in carrying out this type of analysis. One

1331-630: A larger piece by knapping , or hitting against another stone. They are characteristic of the lower Acheulean and middle Palaeolithic ( Mousterian ) periods, roughly 1.6 million years ago to about 100,000 years ago, and used by Homo erectus and other early humans, but rarely by Homo sapiens . Their technical name ( biface ) comes from the fact that the archetypical model is a generally bifacial (with two wide sides or faces) and almond -shaped (amygdaloidal) lithic flake . Hand axes tend to be symmetrical along their longitudinal axis and formed by pressure or percussion. The most common hand axes have

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1452-799: A number of other new varieties, such as Homo rhodesiensis and Homo cepranensis about 400,000 years ago. Homo heidelbergensis is a candidate for first developing an early form of symbolic language . Whether control of fire and earliest burials date to this period or only appear during the Middle Paleolithic is an open question. Also, in Europe, a type of human appeared that was intermediate between Homo erectus and Homo sapiens , sometimes summarized under archaic Homo sapiens , typified by such fossils as those found at Swanscombe , Steinheim , Tautavel , and Vertesszollos ( Homo palaeohungaricus ). The hand-axe tradition originates in

1573-629: A parallel between bowerbirds ' bowers (built to attract potential mates and used only during courtship) and Pleistocene hominids ' hand axes. He called hand axe building a "genetically inherited propensity to construct a certain type of object." He discards the idea that they were used as missile weapons because more efficient weapons were available, such as javelins . Although he accepted that some hand axes may have been used for practical purposes, he agreed with Kohn and Mithen who showed that many hand axes show considerable skill, design and symmetry beyond that needed for utility. Some were too big, such as

1694-419: A pointed end and rounded base, which gives them their characteristic almond shape, and both faces have been knapped to remove the natural cortex , at least partially. Hand axes are a type of the somewhat wider biface group of two-faced tools or weapons. Hand axes were the first prehistoric tools to be recognized as such: the first published representation of a hand axe was drawn by John Frere and appeared in

1815-481: A sharp border all around. Other uses seem to show that hand axes were a multi-functional tool, leading some to describe them as the "Acheulean Swiss Army knife ". Other academics have suggested that the hand axe was simply a byproduct of being used as a core to make other tools, a weapon, or was perhaps used ritually. Wells proposed in 1899 that hand axes were used as missile weapons to hunt prey – an interpretation supported by Calvin , who suggested that some of

1936-468: A similar theme. The term Acheulean does not represent a common culture in the modern sense, rather it is a basic method for making stone tools that was shared across much of the Old World . The very earliest Acheulean assemblages often contain numerous Oldowan -style flakes and core forms and it is almost certain that the Acheulean developed from this older industry. These industries are known as

2057-551: A site in Baise , China shows that hand axes were made in eastern Asia. Hand axe technology is almost unknown in Australian prehistory, although a few have been found. Experiments in knapping have demonstrated the relative ease with which a hand axe can be made, which could help explain their success. In addition, they demand relatively little maintenance and allow a choice of raw materials–any rock will suffice that supports

2178-419: A skilled toolmaker could overcome them. Once the roughout shape was created, a further phase of flaking was undertaken to make the tool thinner. The thinning flakes were removed using a softer hammer, such as bone or antler. The softer hammer required more careful preparation of the striking platform and this would be abraded using a coarse stone to ensure the hammer did not slide off when struck. Final shaping

2299-440: A straight border. An experienced flintknapper needs less than 15 minutes to produce a good quality hand axe. A simple hand axe can be made from a beach pebble in less than 3 minutes. The manufacturing process employs lithic reduction . This phase is commonly thought of as the most important in hand axe fabrication, although it is not always used, such as for hand axes made from flakes or a suitable tool stone. An important concern

2420-731: A suburb of Amiens , the capital of the Somme department in Picardy , where artifacts were found in 1859. John Frere is generally credited as being the first to suggest a very ancient date for Acheulean hand-axes. In 1797, he sent two examples to the Royal Academy in London from Hoxne in Suffolk . He had found them in prehistoric lake deposits along with the bones of extinct animals and concluded that they were made by people "who had not

2541-503: A suitable tool stone, but they rarely show evidence of retouching . Later hand axes were improved by the use of the Levallois technique to make the more sophisticated and lighter Levallois core. In summary, hand axes are recognized by many typological schools under different archaeological paradigms and are quite recognisable (at least the most typical examples). However, they have not been definitively categorized. Stated more formally,

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2662-403: A technical analysis of their manufacture and a morphological analysis. The technical analysis of a hand axe tries to discover each of the phases in its chaîne opératoire (operational sequence). The chain is highly flexible, as a toolmaker may focus narrowly on just one of the sequence's links or equally on each link. The links examined in this type of study start with the extraction methods of

2783-679: A use for ovate hand-axes as a kind of hunting discus to be hurled at prey. Puzzlingly, there are also examples of sites where hundreds of hand-axes, many impractically large and also apparently unused, have been found in close association together. Sites such as Melka Kunturé in Ethiopia , Olorgesailie in Kenya, Isimila in Tanzania , and Kalambo Falls in Zambia have produced evidence that suggests Acheulean hand-axes might not always have had

2904-432: A variety of materials. Later examples of hand axes are more sophisticated with their use of two layers of knapping (one made with stone knapping and one made with bone knapping). Lastly, a hand axe represents a prototype that can be refined giving rise to more developed, specialised and sophisticated tools such as the tips of various projectiles, knives, adzes and hatchets. Given the typological difficulties in defining

3025-402: A variety of shapes, including circular, triangular and elliptical—calling in to question the contention that they had a constant and only symbolic significance. They are typically between 8 and 15 cm (3 and 6 in) long, although they can be bigger or smaller. They were typically made from a rounded stone , a block or lithic flake , using a hammer to remove flakes from both sides of

3146-422: Is a distinct difference in the tools made before and after 600,000 years ago with the older group being thicker and less symmetric and the younger being more extensively trimmed. The primary innovation associated with Acheulean hand-axes is that the stone was worked symmetrically and on both sides. For the latter reason, handaxes are, along with cleavers , bifacially worked tools that could be manufactured from

3267-406: Is a pointed area at one end, cutting edges along its side and a rounded base (this includes hand axes with a lanceolate and amygdaloidal shape as well as others from the family). The axes are almost always symmetrical, despite studies showing that symmetry doesn't help in tasks such as using a hand axe for skinning animals. While there is a "typical" shape to most hand axes, there are some displaying

3388-588: Is added to its variety of forms [...] we realise that the hand axe is one of the most problematical and complex objects in Prehistory In 1969 in the 2nd edition of World Prehistory, Grahame Clark proposed an evolutionary progression of flint-knapping industries (also known as complexes or technocomplexes ) in which the "dominant lithic technologies" occurred in a fixed sequence where simple Oldowan one-edged tools were replaced by these more complex Acheulean hand axes, which were then eventually replaced by

3509-407: Is another site where Acheulean tools were found. In 1968, a lower jaw of a new type of hominid was discovered in the fifth layer (so-called Acheulean layer) of the cave. Specialists named this type " Azykhantropus ". Only limited artefactual evidence survives of the users of Acheulean tools other than the stone tools themselves. Cave sites were exploited for habitation, but the hunter-gatherers of

3630-757: Is basically mechanical, and apart from the colour and the wear it has the same characteristics as the interior in terms of hardness , toughness etc. However, flint is surrounded by a limestone cortex that is soft and unsuitable for stone tools. As hand axes are made from a tool stone's core, it is normal to indicate the thickness and position of the cortex in order to better understand the techniques that are required in their manufacture. The variation in cortex between utensils should not be taken as an indication of their age. Many partially-worked hand axes do not require further work in order to be effective tools. They can be considered to be simple hand axes. Less suitable tool stone requires more thorough working. In some specimens

3751-419: Is combined in one tool. Given the right circumstances, it is possible to make use of loose flakes . In the same book, Keeley states that a number of the hand axes studied were used as knives to cut meat (such as hand axes from Hoxne and Caddington ). He identified that the point of another hand axe had been used as a clockwise drill . This hand axe came from Clacton-on-Sea (all of these sites are located in

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3872-543: Is concentrated in Western Europe; in Africa sedimentary and igneous rock such as mudstone and basalt were most widely used, for example. Other source materials include chalcedony , quartzite , andesite , sandstone , chert , and shale . Even relatively soft rock such as limestone could be exploited. In all cases the toolmakers worked their handaxes close to the source of their raw materials, suggesting that

3993-464: Is easily identifiable and was carried out using techniques such as the coup de tranchet (French, meaning " tranchet blow"), or simply with scale or scalariform retouches that alter an edge's symmetry and line. With its flattened-teardrop symmetry, the Achulean handaxe has long invited cognitive explanations. It is the earliest hominid tool that seems "designed" in some modern sense. Yet, for most of

4114-510: Is important to study the rock's grain, texture, the presence of joints, veins, impurities or shatter cones etc. In order to study the use of individual items it is necessary to look for traces of wear such as pseudo-retouches, breakage or wear, including areas that are polished. If the item is in a good condition it is possible to submit it to use-wear analysis , which is discussed in more detail below. Apart from these generalities, which are common to all carved archaeological pieces, hand axes need

4235-584: Is impossible to know for sure whether Homo ergaster was the only maker of early Acheulean tools, since other hominin species, such as Homo habilis , also lived in East Africa at this time. From geological dating of sedimentary deposits, it appears that the Acheulean originated in Africa and spread to Asian, Middle Eastern, and European areas sometime between 1.5 million years ago and about 800 thousand years ago. In individual regions, this dating can be considerably refined; in Europe for example, it

4356-814: Is known as the Acheulean . The use of hand axes survived the Middle Palaeolithic in a much smaller area and were especially important during the Mousterian , up to the middle of the Last glacial period . [In Europe s]mall bifaces are found from the late Acheulean until the Aurignacian Hand axes dating from the lower Palaeolithic were found on the Asian continent, on the Indian subcontinent and in

4477-525: Is more clearly linked to the flake tradition, which spread across southern Europe through the Balkans to appear relatively densely in southeast Asia . Many Mousterian finds in the Middle Paleolithic have been knapped using a Levallois technique, suggesting that Neanderthals evolved from Homo erectus (or, perhaps, Homo heidelbergensis ; see below). Monte Poggiolo , near Forlì , Italy,

4598-415: Is necessary to detach a 'starting flake', often much larger than the rest of the flakes (due to the oblique angle of a rounded pebble requiring greater force to detach it), thus creating an asymmetry. Correcting the asymmetry by removing material from the other faces, encouraged a more pointed (oval) form factor. (Knapping a completely circular hand axe requires considerable correction of the shape.) Studies in

4719-707: Is no correlation between spatial abilities in tool making and linguistic behaviour, and that language is not learned or conceived in the same manner as artefact manufacture. Lower Palaeolithic finds made in association with Acheulean hand-axes, such as the Venus of Berekhat Ram , have been used to argue for artistic expression amongst the tool users. The incised elephant tibia from Bilzingsleben in Germany, and ochre finds from Kapthurin in Kenya and Duinefontein in South Africa , are sometimes cited as being some of

4840-1012: Is not a reliable chronological reference and was abandoned as a dating system. Examples of this include the "quasi-bifaces" that sometimes appear in strata from the Gravettian , Solutrean and Magdalenian periods in France and Spain, the crude bifacial pieces of the Lupemban culture ( 9000 B.C. ) or the pyriform tools found near Sagua La Grande in Cuba . The word biface refers to something different in English than biface in French or bifaz in Spanish, which could lead to many misunderstandings. Bifacially carved cutting tools, similar to hand axes, were used to clear scrub vegetation throughout

4961-511: Is roughly 700,000 years old. In Europe, the Olduwan tradition (known in Europe as Abbevillian ) split into two parallel traditions, the Clactonian , a flake tradition, and the Acheulean , a hand-axe tradition. The Levallois technique for knapping flint developed during this time. The carrier species from Africa to Europe was undoubtedly Homo erectus . This type of human

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5082-399: Is the difficulty in observing larger pieces with a microscope. Of the millions of known pieces and despite their long role in human history, few have been thoroughly studied. Another arises from the clear evidence that the same tasks were performed more effectively using utensils made from flakes: This raises the question: why make hand axes, whose production is more complicated and costly, if

5203-538: Is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age . It spans the time from around 3.3 million years ago when the first evidence for stone tool production and use by hominins appears in the current archaeological record , until around 300,000 years ago, spanning the Oldowan ("mode 1") and Acheulean ("mode 2") lithics industries. In African archaeology, the time period roughly corresponds to

5324-456: Is the implement that has been used to form the biface. If multiple implements were used, it is essential to discover in what order they were used and the result obtained by each one. The most common implements are: Hand axes can be made without subsequent reworking of the edges. A hammerstone was the most common percussive tool used during the Acheulean. The resulting artefact is usually easily recognizable given its size and irregular edges, as

5445-595: Is the location of an Acheulian littoral handaxe industry dating from 1.8 to 1.1 million years ago. The advent of technology and both verbal and non-verbal communication due to transition to group hunting and gathering resulted in the expansion of the parts of the brain associated with these, as well as greater cognition due to it being interlinked with the two. Later, behavioral adaptations to further social life, uncertain food distribution (resulting in need to find and secure food and remember where it could be found) and ecological changes brought about by Homo led to

5566-658: The Arabian Peninsula , across modern day Iran and Pakistan, and into India, and beyond. In Europe their users reached the Pannonian Basin and the western Mediterranean regions, modern day France, the Low Countries , western Germany, and southern and central Britain. Areas further north did not see human occupation until much later, due to glaciation. In Athirampakkam at Chennai in Tamil Nadu

5687-428: The Clactonian and then later with the more sophisticated Mousterian , as well. It is therefore important not to see the Acheulean as a neatly defined period or one that happened as part of a clear sequence but as one tool-making technique that flourished especially well in early prehistory. The enormous geographic spread of Acheulean techniques also makes the name unwieldy as it represents numerous regional variations on

5808-701: The Dead Sea rift in the southern Hula Valley of northern Israel, have revealed evidence of human habitation in the area from as early as 750,000 years ago. Archaeologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem claim that the site provides evidence of "advanced human behavior" half a million years earlier than has previously been estimated. Their report describes an Acheulean layer at the site in which numerous stone tools, animal bones, and plant remains have been found. Azykh cave located in Azerbaijan

5929-564: The Early Stone Age , the earliest finds dating back to 3.3 million years ago, with Lomekwian stone tool technology, spanning Mode 1 stone tool technology, which begins roughly 2.6 million years ago and ends between 400,000 and 250,000 years ago, with Mode 2 technology. The Middle Paleolithic followed the Lower Paleolithic and recorded the appearance of the more advanced prepared-core tool-making technologies such as

6050-683: The Hoabinhian . However, Movius' hypothesis was proved incorrect when many hand axes made in Palaeolithic era were found in 1978 at Hantan River, Jeongok, Yeoncheon County , South Korea for the first time in East Asia. Some of them are exhibited at the Jeongok Prehistory Museum, South Korea. The Padjitanian culture from Java was traditionally thought to be the only oriental culture to manufacture hand axes. However,

6171-658: The Mousterian industry. Transitional tool forms between the two are called Mousterian of Acheulean Tradition, or MTA types. The long blades of the Upper Palaeolithic Mode 4 industries appeared long after the Acheulean was abandoned. As the period of Acheulean tool use is so vast, efforts have been made to classify various stages of it such as John Wymer 's division into Early Acheulean, Middle Acheulean, Late Middle Acheulean and Late Acheulean for material from Britain. These schemes are normally regional and their dating and interpretations vary. In Africa, there

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6292-498: The Mousterian . Whether the earliest control of fire by hominins dates to the Lower or to the Middle Paleolithic remains an open question. The Lower Paleolithic began with the appearance of the first stone tools in the world. Formerly associated with the emergence of Homo habilis , some 2.8 million years ago, this date has been pushed back significantly by finds of the early 2000s, the Oldowan or Mode 1 horizon, long considered

6413-724: The Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods. These tools are similar to more modern adzes and were a cheaper alternative to polished axes. The modern day villages along the Sepik river in New Guinea continue to use tools that are virtually identical to hand axes to clear forest. "The term biface should be reserved for items from before the Würm II-III interstadial ", although certain later objects could exceptionally be called bifaces. Hand axe does not relate to axe , which

6534-487: The Palaeolithic also possibly built shelters such as those identified in connection with Acheulean tools at Grotte du Lazaret and Terra Amata near Nice in France. The presence of the shelters is inferred from large rocks at the sites, which may have been used to weigh down the bottoms of tent-like structures or serve as foundations for huts or windbreaks. These stones may have been naturally deposited. In any case,

6655-442: The Somme near Abbeville in northern France. Again, his theories attributing great antiquity to the finds were spurned by his colleagues, until one of de Perthes' main opponents, Marcel Jérôme Rigollot , began finding more tools near Saint Acheul. Following visits to both Abbeville and Saint Acheul by the geologist Joseph Prestwich , the age of the tools was finally accepted. In 1872, Louis Laurent Gabriel de Mortillet described

6776-401: The fluvial terraces of Western Europe . This means that different strategies were required for the procurement and use of available resources. The supply of materials was the most important factor in the manufacturing process as Palaeolithic artisans were able to adapt their methods to available materials, obtaining adequate results from even the most difficult raw materials. Despite this it

6897-404: The idealised model combines a series of well-defined properties , but no set of these properties are necessary or sufficient to identify a hand axe. The study of hand axes is made complicated because its shape is the result of a complicated chain of technical actions that are only occasionally revealed in their later stages. If this complexity of intentions during the manufacture of a hand axe

7018-685: The marrow . The move from the mostly frugivorous or omnivorous diet of hominin Australopithecus to the carnivorous scavenging lifestyle of early Homo has been explained by the climate changes in East Africa associated with the Quaternary glaciation . Decreasing oceanic evaporation produced a drier climate and the expansion of the savannah at the expense of forests. Reduced availability of fruits stimulated some proto- australopithecines to search out new food sources found in

7139-417: The "Swiss Army knife" multipurpose suite of proposed uses (deflesh- ing, scraping, pounding roots, and flake source), an easy-to-make shape would suffice – and indeed the simpler tools continued to be made. None of these uses adequately addresses the "design aspects." Why is the handaxe mostly symmetric, why mostly flattened, why the seldom-sharp point, why sharpened all around (when that interferes with gripping

7260-489: The (usually earlier) Mode 1 tools of the Clactonian or Oldowan / Abbevillian industries but lacking the sophistication of the (usually later) Mode 3 Middle Palaeolithic technology, exemplified by the Mousterian industry. The Mode 1 industries created rough flake tools by hitting a suitable stone with a hammerstone . The resulting flake that broke off would have a natural sharp edge for cutting and could afterwards be sharpened further by striking another smaller flake from

7381-416: The 1990s at Boxgrove , in which a butcher attempted to cut up a carcass with a hand axe, revealed that the hand axe was able to expose bone marrow . Kohn and Mithen independently arrived at the explanation that symmetric hand axes were favoured by sexual selection as fitness indicators . Kohn in his book As We Know It wrote that the hand axe is "a highly visible indicator of fitness, and so becomes

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7502-474: The 5-centimetre (2 in) average of Oldowan tools. Use-wear analysis on Acheulean tools suggests there was generally no specialization in the different types created and that they were multi-use implements. Functions included hacking wood from a tree, cutting animal carcasses as well as scraping and cutting hides when necessary. Some tools, however, could have been better suited to digging roots or butchering animals than others. Alternative theories include

7623-487: The Acheulean age started at 1.51 mya and it is also prior than North India and Europe. Until the 1980s, it was thought that the humans who arrived in East Asia abandoned the hand-axe technology of their ancestors and adopted chopper tools instead. An apparent division between Acheulean and non-Acheulean tool industries was identified by Hallam L. Movius , who drew the Movius Line across northern India to show where

7744-560: The Acheulean from the West Turkana region of Kenya were described which have been dated through the method of magnetostratigraphy to about 1.76 million years ago, and in 2023 finds from Ethiopia were reported dating to 1.95 million years ago. The earliest user of Acheulean tools may have been Homo ergaster , who first appeared about 1.8 million years ago (not all researchers use this formal name, and instead prefer to call these users early Homo erectus ). However, it

7865-504: The Acheulean was a set of skills passed between individual groups. Some smaller tools were made from large flakes that had been struck from stone cores. These flake tools and the distinctive waste flakes produced in Acheulean tool manufacture suggest a more considered technique, one that required the toolmaker to think one or two steps ahead during work that necessitated a clear sequence of steps to create perhaps several tools in one sitting. A hard hammerstone would first be used to rough out

7986-756: The Developed Oldowan and are almost certainly transitional between the Oldowan and Acheulean. Regionally subdivided end times of the Acheulean show that it persisted long after the diffusion of Middle Palaeolithic technologies in multiple continental regions and ended over 100,000 years apart – in Africa and the Near East: 175–166 kya, in Europe: 141–130 kya and in Asia: 57–53 kya. In the four divisions of prehistoric stone-working, Acheulean artefacts are classified as Mode 2, meaning they are more advanced than

8107-545: The El Basalito site in Salamanca , where excavation uncovered fragments of a hand axe with marks at the tip that appeared to be the result of the action of a wedge, which would have subjected the object to high levels of torsion that broke the tip. A break or extreme wear can affect a tool's point or any other part. Such wear was reworked by means of a secondary working as discussed above. In some cases this reconstruction

8228-435: The Lower Paleolithic (c. 200,000 BP) period. Several sites of stone age are discovered in riverbeds of Sabarmati , Mahi river and lower Narmada rivers of Gujarat. Hand-axe A hand axe (or handaxe or Acheulean hand axe ) is a prehistoric stone tool with two faces that is the longest-used tool in human history . It is made from stone, usually flint or chert that has been "reduced" and shaped from

8349-571: The Maritime Academy handaxe or the "Great Hand Axe" found in Furze Platt, England that is 30.6 cm long (other scholars measure it as 39.5 cm long). Some were too small - less than two inches. Some were "overdetermined", featuring symmetry beyond practical requirements and showing evidence of unnecessary attention to form and finish. Some were actually made out bone instead of stone and thus were not very practical, suggesting

8470-640: The Middle East (to the south of parallel 40° N), but they were absent from the area to the east of the 90° E meridian . Movius designated a border (the so-called Movius Line ) between the cultures that used hand axes to the west and those that made chopping tools and small retouched lithic flakes , such as were made by Peking Man and the Ordos culture in China, or their equivalents in Indochina such as

8591-649: The Pleistocene (the Gelasian), and fall into the late Pliocene (the Piacenzian ). The early members of the genus Homo produced primitive tools, summarized under the Oldowan industry, which remained dominant for nearly a million years, from about 2.5 to 1.7 million years ago. Homo habilis is assumed to have lived primarily on scavenging , using tools to cleave meat off carrion or to break bones to extract

8712-690: The Roe Line, Acheulean hand-axes were made directly from large stone nodules and cores; while, to the south and west, they were made from flakes struck from these nodules. Most notably, however, it is Homo ergaster (sometimes called early Homo erectus ), whose assemblages are almost exclusively Acheulean, who used the technique. Later, the related species Homo heidelbergensis (the common ancestor of both Neanderthals and Homo sapiens ) used it extensively. Late Acheulean tools were still used by species derived from H. erectus , including Homo sapiens idaltu and early Neanderthals . The symmetry of

8833-402: The apparent over-sophistication of some examples which may represent a "historically accrued social significance". One theory goes further and suggests that some special hand-axes were made and displayed by males in search of a mate, using a large, well-made hand-axe to demonstrate that they possessed sufficient strength and skill to pass on to their offspring. Once they had attracted a female at

8954-587: The attention of non-experts. Their typology broadened the term's meaning. Biface hand axes and bifacial lithic items are distinguished. A hand axe need not be a bifacial item and many bifacial items are not hand axes. Nor were hand axes and bifacial items exclusive to the Lower Palaeolithic period in the Old World. They appear throughout the world and in many different pre-historical epochs, without necessarily implying an ancient origin. Lithic typology

9075-642: The best specimens come from 1.2 mya deposits in Olduvai Gorge . By 1.8 mya early man was present in Europe. Remains of their activities were excavated in Spain at sites in the Guadix-Baza basin and near Atapuerca. Most early European sites yield "mode 1" or Oldowan assemblages. The earliest Acheulean sites in Europe appear around 0.5 mya. In addition, the Acheulean tradition did not spread to Eastern Asia. In Europe and particularly in France and England,

9196-815: The characteristic hand-axe tools as belonging to L'Epoque de St Acheul . The industry was renamed as the Acheulean in 1925. Providing calendrical dates and ordered chronological sequences in the study of early stone tool manufacture is often accomplished through one or more geological techniques, such as radiometric dating , often potassium-argon dating , and magnetostratigraphy . From the Konso Formation of Ethiopia, Acheulean hand-axes are dated to about 1.5 million years ago using radiometric dating of deposits containing volcanic ashes. Acheulean tools in South Asia have also been found to be dated as far as 1.5 million years ago. However, in 2003 examples of

9317-493: The core as the irregularities formed during knapping are not removed. The notches obtained were exploited in the production sequence. It is common that this type of manufacture yields " partial bifaces " (an incomplete working that leaves many areas covered with cortex), "unifaces" (tools that have only been worked on one face), " bifaces in the Abbevillian style " and " nucleiform bifaces " . This type of manufacturing style

9438-463: The cortex is unrecognisable due to the complete working that it has undergone, which has eliminated any vestige of the original cortex. It is possible to distinguish multiple types of hand axe: Older hand axes were produced by direct percussion with a stone hammer and can be distinguished by their thickness and a sinuous border. Mousterian hand axes were produced with a soft billet of antler or wood and are much thinner, more symmetrical and have

9559-452: The drier savannah ecology. Derek Bickerton (2009) has designated to this period the move from simple animal communication systems found in all great apes to the earliest form of symbolic communication systems capable of displacement (referring to items not currently within sensory perception) and motivated by the need to "recruit" group members for scavenging large carcasses. Homo erectus appeared by about 1.8 million years ago, via

9680-627: The earliest examples of an aesthetic sensibility in human history. There are numerous other explanations put forward for the creation of these artefacts; however, evidence of human art did not become commonplace until around 50,000 years ago, after the emergence of modern Homo sapiens . The kill site at Boxgrove in England is another famous Acheulean site. Up until the 1970s these kill sites, often at waterholes where animals would gather to drink, were interpreted as being where Acheulean tool users killed game, butchered their carcasses, and then discarded

9801-400: The early part of the Middle Paleolithic . Its end is not well defined, depending on whether Sangoan (also known as "Epi-Acheulean") is included, it may be taken to last until as late as 130,000 years ago. In Europe and Western Asia, early Neanderthals adopted Acheulean technology, transitioning to Mousterian by about 160,000 years ago. The type site for the Acheulean is Saint-Acheul ,

9922-667: The east of England). Toth reached similar conclusions for pieces from the Spanish site in Ambrona ( Soria ). Analysis carried out by Domínguez-Rodrigo and co-workers on the primitive Acheulean site in Peninj ( Tanzania ) on a series of tools dated 1.5 mya shows clear microwear produced by plant phytoliths , suggesting that the hand axes were used to work wood. Among other uses, use-wear evidence for fire making has been identified on dozens of later Middle Palaeolithic hand axes from France , suggesting Neanderthals struck these tools with

10043-521: The edge if necessary (known as "retouch"). These early toolmakers may also have worked the stone they took the flake from (known as a core ) to create chopper cores although there is some debate over whether these items were tools or just discarded cores. The Mode 2 Acheulean toolmakers also used the Mode 1 flake tool method but supplemented it by using bone, antler, or wood to shape stone tools. This type of hammer, compared to stone, yields more control over

10164-490: The essence of a hand axe, it is important when analysing them to take account of their archaeological context ( geographical location , stratigraphy , the presence of other elements associated with the same level , chronology etc.). It is necessary to study their physical state to establish any natural alterations that may have occurred: patina, shine, wear and tear, mechanical, thermal and / or physical-chemical changes such as cracking, in order to distinguish these factors from

10285-562: The even more complex Mousterian tools made with the Levallois technique . The oldest known Oldowan tools were found in Gona, Ethiopia . These are dated to about 2.6 mya. Early examples of hand axes date back to 1.6 mya in the later Oldowan (Mode I), called the "developed Oldowan " by Mary Leakey . These hand axes became more abundant in mode II Acheulean industries that appeared in Southern Ethiopia around 1.4 mya. Some of

10406-473: The flakes can do the same work with the same efficiency? The answer could be that, in general, hand axes were not conceived for a particular function (excluding certain specialized types) [...], they were not made for one main task but covered a much more general purpose. Keeley based his observations on archaeological sites in England. He proposed that in base settlements where it was possible to predict future actions and where greater control on routine activities

10527-580: The further expansion of the brain in the areas of problem-solving, memory etc., ultimately leading to the great behavioral flexibility, highly efficient communication, and ecological dominance of humanity. The biological pre-adaptations of the great apes and earlier primates allowed the brain to expand threefold within just 2 to 2.3 million years of the Pleistocene , in response to increasingly complex societies and changing habitats. The appearance of Homo heidelbergensis about 600,000 years ago heralds

10648-460: The hand axe was not itself a tool, but a large lithic core from which flakes had been removed and used as tools (flake core theory). On the other hand, there are many hand axes found with retouching such as sharpening or shaping, which casts doubt on this idea. Other theories suggest the shape is part tradition and part by-product of its manufacture. Many early hand axes appear to be made from simple rounded pebbles (from river or beach deposits). It

10769-467: The hand-axes has been used to suggest that Acheulean tool users possessed the ability to use language ; the parts of the brain connected with fine control and movement are located in the same region that controls speech. The wider variety of tool types compared to earlier industries and their aesthetically as well as functionally pleasing form could indicate a higher intellectual level in Acheulean tool users than in earlier hominines . Others argue that there

10890-586: The handaxe, for a leftover core after flake production. This would explain the abundance, wide distribution, proximity to source, consistent shape, and lack of actual use, of these artifacts. Mimi Lam, a researcher from the University of British Columbia, has suggested that Acheulean hand-axes became "the first commodity: A marketable good or service that has value and is used as an item for exchange." Fertile Crescent : Europe : Africa : Siberia : The geographic distribution of Acheulean tools – and thus

11011-470: The item. This hammer can be made of hard stone, or of wood or antler . The latter two, softer hammers can produce more delicate results. However, a hand axe's technological aspect can reflect more differences. For example, uniface tools have only been worked on one side and partial bifaces retain a high proportion of the natural cortex of the tool stone , often making them easy to confuse with chopping tools . Further, simple bifaces may have been created from

11132-405: The large flakes themselves or from prepared cores. Tool types found in Acheulean assemblages include pointed, cordate, ovate, ficron , and bout-coupé hand-axes (referring to the shapes of the final tool), cleavers, retouched flakes, scrapers , and segmental chopping tools. Materials used were determined by available local stone types; flint is most often associated with the tools but its use

11253-417: The mineral pyrite to produce sparks at least 50,000 years ago. Some hand axes were used with force that left clearly visible marks. Other visible marks can be left as the scars from retouching, on occasion it is possible to distinguish them from marks left by the initial manufacture. One of the most common cases is when a point breaks. This was seen at sites in Europe, Africa and Asia. One example comes from

11374-612: The oldest hand axes appear after the Beestonian Glaciation – Mindel Glaciation , approximately 750,000 years ago, during the so-called Cromerian complex . They became more widely produced during the Abbevillian tradition. The apogee of hand axe manufacture took place in a wide area of the Old World , especially during the Riss glaciation , in a cultural complex that can be described as cosmopolitan and which

11495-500: The oldest type of lithic industry, is now considered to have developed from about 2.6 million years ago, with the beginning Gelasian ( Lower Pleistocene ), possibly first used by australopithecine forebears of the genus Homo (such as Australopithecus garhi ). However, even older tools were later discovered at the single site of Lomekwi 3 in Kenya , in 2015, dated to as early as 3.3 million years ago. As such, they would predate

11616-602: The peoples who made them – is often interpreted as being the result of palaeo-climatic and ecological factors, such as glaciation and the desertification of the Sahara Desert . Acheulean stone tools have been found across the continent of Africa, save for the dense rainforest around the River Congo which is not thought to have been colonized by hominids until later. It is thought that from Africa their use spread north and east to Asia: from Anatolia , through

11737-499: The ranks of omnivorous predators (and possibly became hypercarnivores before Homo sapiens again transformed into hypocarnivores ). As active hunters, they came in opposition to other, quadruped predators and started living in large groups. Homo erectus migrated out of Africa and dispersed throughout Eurasia. Stone tools in Malaysia have been dated to be 1.83 million years old. The Peking Man fossil, discovered in 1929,

11858-401: The raw material, then include the actual manufacture of the item, its use, maintenance throughout its working life, and finally its disposal. A toolmaker may put a lot of effort into finding the highest quality raw material or the most suitable tool stone. In this way more effort is invested in obtaining a good foundation, but time is saved on shaping the stone: that is, the effort is focused on

11979-576: The removal of shallow or deep flakes. The expression Faustkeil is used in German ; it can be literally translated as hand axe, although in a stricter sense it means "fist wedge". It is the same in Dutch where the expression used is vuistbijl which literally means "fist axe". The same locution occurs in other languages. However, the general impression of these tools was based on ideal (or classic) pieces that were of such perfect shape that they caught

12100-408: The removed flakes leave pronounced percussion bulbs and compression rings. A hammerstone produces a small number of flakes that are wide and deep leaving long edges on the tool as their highly concave form yields curving edges. The cross-section is irregular, often sub-rhombic, while the intersection between the faces forms an acute angle of between 60° and 90° degrees. The shape is similar to that of

12221-525: The rounder specimens of Acheulean hand axes were used as hunting projectiles or as "killer frisbees" meant to be thrown at a herd of animals at a water hole so as to stun one of them. This assertion was inspired by findings from the Olorgesailie archaeological site in Kenya . Few specimens indicate hand axe hafting , and some are too large for that use. However, few hand axes show signs of heavy damage indicative of throwing, modern experiments have shown

12342-913: The same period. The intermediate may have been Homo heidelbergensis , held responsible for the manufacture of improved Mode 2 Acheulean tool types, in Africa, after 600,000 years ago. Flakes and axes coexisted in Europe, sometimes at the same site. The axe tradition, however, spread to a different range in the east. It appears in Arabia and India , but more importantly, it does not appear in southeast Asia. From about 300,000 years ago, technology, social structures and behaviour appear to grow more complex, with prepared-core technique lithics, earliest instances of burial and changes to hunting-gathering patterns of subsistence. Homo sapiens first appeared about 300,000 years ago, as evidenced by fossils found at Jebel Irhoud in Morocco. Guy Ellcock Pilgrim ,

12463-401: The scars left during the tool's manufacture or use. The raw material is an important factor, because of the result that can be obtained by working it and in order to reveal the economy and movement of prehistoric humans. In the Olduvai Gorge the raw materials were most readily available some ten kilometres from the nearest settlements. However, flint or silicate is readily available on

12584-417: The shape of the finished tool. Unlike the earlier Mode 1 industries, it was the core that was prized over the flakes that came from it. Another advance was that the Mode 2 tools were worked symmetrically and on both sides indicating greater care in the production of the final tool. Mode 3 technology emerged towards the end of Acheulean dominance and involved the Levallois technique , most famously exploited by

12705-439: The shape of the tool from the stone by removing large flakes. These large flakes might be re-used to create tools. The tool maker would work around the circumference of the remaining stone core, removing smaller flakes alternately from each face. The scar created by the removal of the preceding flake would provide a striking platform for the removal of the next. Misjudged blows or flaws in the material used could cause problems, but

12826-421: The signs of use. Hand axes are mainly made of flint , but rhyolites , phonolites , quartzites and other coarse rocks were used as well. Obsidian , natural volcanic glass, shatters easily and was rarely used. Most researchers think that handaxes were primarily used as cutting tools. The pioneers of Palaeolithic tool studies first suggested that bifaces were used as axes despite the fact that they have

12947-436: The start of the Acheulean period and became more common with time. Manufacturing a hand axe from a flake is actually easier than from a pebble. It is also quicker, as flakes are more likely to be closer to the desired shape. This allows easier manipulation and fewer knaps are required to finish the tool; it is also easier to obtain straight edges. When analysing a hand axe made from a flake, it should be remembered that its shape

13068-448: The start of the operational chain. Equally the artisan may concentrate the most effort in the manufacture so that the quality or suitability of the raw material is less important. This will minimize the initial effort, but will result in a greater effort at the end of the operational chain. Hand axes are most commonly made from rounded pebbles or nodules, but many are also made from a large flake. Hand axes made from flakes first appeared at

13189-701: The technique to often result in flat-faced landings, and many modern scholars consider the "hurling" theory to be poorly conceived but so attractive that it has taken a life of its own. As hand axes can be recycled, resharpened and remade, they could have been used for varied tasks. For this reason it may be misleading to think of them as axes , they could have been used for tasks such as digging, cutting, scraping, chopping, piercing and hammering. However, other tools, such as small knives, are better suited for some of these tasks, and many hand axes have been found with no traces of use. Baker suggested that since so many hand axes have been found that have no retouching, perhaps

13310-486: The tool for pounding uses)? Neither does a suite of uses suggest why this form could remain the same from southern Africa to northern Europe to eastern Asia – and resist cultural drift for so long. The handaxe technique and its rationale were surely lost many times, just as Tasmanians lost fishing and fire-starting practices. So how did Homo erectus keep rediscovering the enigmatic handaxe shape, over and over for nearly 1.5 million years? The most characteristic and common shape

13431-497: The tools they had used. Since the advent of zooarchaeology , which has placed greater emphasis on studying animal bones from archaeological sites, this view has changed. Many of the animals at these kill sites have been found to have been killed by other predator animals, so it is likely that humans of the period supplemented hunting with scavenging from already dead animals. Excavations at the Bnot Ya'akov Bridge site, located along

13552-525: The traditions seemed to diverge. Later finds of Acheulean tools at Chongokni in South Korea and also in Mongolia and China, however, cast doubt on the reliability of Movius's distinction. Since then, a different division known as the Roe Line has been suggested. This runs across North Africa to Israel and thence to India, separating two different techniques used by Acheulean toolmakers. North and east of

13673-583: The transitional variety Homo ergaster . Homo erectus moved from scavenging to hunting , developing the hunting-gathering lifestyle that would remain dominant throughout the Paleolithic into the Mesolithic . The unlocking of the new niche of hunting-gathering subsistence drove a number of further behavioral and physiological changes leading to the appearance of Homo heidelbergensis by some 800,000-600,000 years ago. As such, Homo rose to

13794-414: The use of metals" and that they belonged to a "very ancient period indeed, even beyond the present world". His ideas were, however, ignored by his contemporaries, who subscribed to a pre- Darwinian view of human evolution . Later, Jacques Boucher de Crèvecœur de Perthes , working between 1836 and 1846, collected further examples of hand-axes and fossilised animal bone from the gravel river terraces of

13915-484: The wide base serving as an ergonomic area for the hand to grip the tool, though other uses, such as throwing weapons and use as social and sexual signaling have been proposed. The four classes of hand axe are: While Class 4 hand axes are referred to as "formalized tools", bifaces from any stage of a lithic reduction sequence may be used as tools. (Other biface typologies make five divisions rather than four. ) French antiquarian André Vayson de Pradenne introduced

14036-586: The word biface in 1920. This term co-exists with the more popular hand axe ( coup de poing ), that was coined by Gabriel de Mortillet much earlier. The continued use of the word biface by François Bordes and Lionel Balout supported its use in France and Spain, where it replaced the term hand axe . Use of the expression hand axe has continued in English as the equivalent of the French biface ( bifaz in Spanish), while biface applies more generally for any piece that has been carved on both sides by

14157-502: Was common, the preferred tools were made from specialized flakes, such as racloirs , backed knives, scrapers and punches. However, hand axes were more suitable on expeditions and in seasonal camps, where unforeseen tasks were more common. Their main advantage in these situations was the lack of specialization and adaptability to multiple eventualities. A hand axe has a long blade with different curves and angles, some sharper and others more resistant, including points and notches. All of this

14278-414: Was overused in lithic typology to describe a wide variety of stone tools. At the time the use of such items was not understood. In the particular case of Palaeolithic hand axes the term axe is an inadequate description. Lionel Balout stated, "the term should be rejected as an erroneous interpretation of these objects that are not 'axes ' ". Subsequent studies supported this idea, particularly those examining

14399-441: Was predetermined (by use of the Levallois technique or Kombewa technique or similar). Notwithstanding this, it is necessary to note a tool's characteristics: type of flake, heel, knap direction. The natural external cortex or rind of the tool stone, which is due to erosion and the physical-chemical alterations of weathering , is different from the stone's interior. In the case of chert , quartz or quartzite , this alteration

14520-654: Was then applied to the usable cutting edge of the tool, again using fine removal of flakes. Some Acheulean tools were sharpened instead by the removal of a tranchet flake . This was struck from the lateral edge of the hand-axe close to the intended cutting area, resulting in the removal of a flake running along (parallel to) the blade of the axe to create a neat and very sharp working edge. This distinctive tranchet flake can be identified amongst flint-knapping debris at Acheulean sites. Loren Eiseley calculated that Acheulean tools have an average useful cutting edge of 20 centimetres (8 inches ), making them much more efficient than

14641-604: Was thought that Acheulean methods did not reach the continent until around 500,000 years ago. However, more recent research demonstrated that hand-axes from Spain were made more than 900,000 years ago. Relative dating techniques (based on a presumption that technology progresses over time) suggest that Acheulean tools followed on from earlier, cruder tool-making methods, but there is considerable chronological overlap in early prehistoric stone-working industries, with evidence in some regions that Acheulean tool-using groups were contemporary with other, less sophisticated industries such as

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