Hand axe Totally Explained

Everything about Hand Axe totally explained

A handaxe is a bifacial Lower and Middle Paleolithic core tool. This kind of axe is typical of the lower (Acheulean) and the middle Palaeolithic (Mousterian) and is the longest used tool of human history.

Distribution

Handaxes are only found in Africa, Europe and Northern Asia, while South-Asia retained flake-industries (Hoabhinian).
New archaeologic evidence from Baise, China shows that there were also handaxes in eastern Asia. 1

science mag

Production

Older handaxes were produced by direct percussion with a stone hammer and can be distinguished by their thickness and a sinous border. Later Mousterian handaxes were produced with a soft billet of antler or wood and are much thinner, more symmetrical and have a straight border.
An experienced flintknapper needs less than 15 minutes to produce a good quality handaxe, (in fact a simple handaxe can be made from a beach pebble in less than 3 minutes).

Raw materials

Handaxes are mainly made of flint, but rhyolites, phonolites, quartzites and other rather coarse rocks were used as well. Obsidian was rarely used, as the material shatters easily.

Shapes

Several basic shapes, like cordate, oval, triangular etc. have been distinguished, but their chronological significance isn't agreed upon.

Function

As most handaxes have a sharp border all around, there's no agreement about their use. Interpretations range from cutting and chopping tools to digging implements, flake cores, the use in traps and a purely ritual significance, maybe in courting behaviour. (The current majority view of their use, is some form of chopping or digging tool for general purpose use, probably mainly for cutting meat and hacking through muscule fibre).
An interpretation from William H. Calvin maintains that some of the rounder examples could have served as "killer frisbees" meant to be thrown at a herd of animals at a water hole so as to stun one of them. There are few indications of handaxe hafting, and some artifacts are far too large for that. However a thrown hand axe wouldn't usually have penetrated deeply enough to cause very serious injuries. Additionally many handaxes are very small. Nevertheless it could in theory have been a weapon for defence against predators.
Tony Baker presented an argument in favor of the flake core

theory. This theory claims that the hand axe wasn't a tool at all, but was a core from which flakes were removed. The flakes were then used as tools. It is worth noting however that handaxes are often found with retouch (i.e sharpening or shaping), thereby casting doubt on the theory of them being used solely as a flake core (the question remains, why would early man carefully straighten up and retouch something which is 'just' a simple flake core?). Assuming the shape is part tradition and partly a byproduct of the way it's manufactured; When a handaxe is knapped, the resulting shape is obviously a function of the size and shape of the original flint nodule, and the method used to knapp it. Since many early handaxes appear to be made from simple flint pebbles (i.e from river or beach deposits), and due to the fact that most pebbles are rounded - when making, it's necessary to detach a 'starting flake', which is often much larger than the rest of the flakes will be (due to the oblique angle of a rounded pebble requiring greater force to dettach), thus creating an asymmetry in the handaxe, when the asymmetry is corrected by removing extra material from the other faces, a trend toward a more pointed form factor is often achieved, (knapping a completely circular handaxe actaully requires considerable correction of the shape to achieve).

Further Information

Get more info on 'Hand Axe'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://hand_axe.totallyexplained.com">Hand axe Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.