Hand axe

A hand axe is a bifacial Lower and Middle Paleolithic core tool. This kind of axe is typical of the lower Paleolithic (Acheulean) and the middle Palaeolithic (Mousterian) and is the longest-used tool of human history. It is not to be confused with a modern wood handled axe.

Distribution

Hand axes are only found in Africa, Europe and Northern Asia, while South-Asia retained flake-industries (Hoabhinian).

New archaeological evidence from Baise, China shows that there were also hand axes in eastern Asia. 1 2 3

Production

Older hand axes were produced by direct percussion with a stone hammer and can be distinguished by their thickness and a sinuous 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 hand axe, (in fact a simple hand axe can be made from a beach pebble in less than 3 minutes).

Raw materials

Hand axes 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, or triangular have been distinguished, but their chronological significance is not agreed upon.

Function

As most hand axes have a sharp border all around, there is no firm agreement about their use. Interpretations range from cutting and chopping tools to digging implements, flake cores, even the use in traps and a purely ritual significance (such as courting behaviour). The current majority scientific view of their use however, is some form of chopping or tool for general purpose use, probably for cutting meat and extracting bone marrow (which would explain the pointed end) and general hacking through bone and muscle fiber, experiments at Boxgrove would appear to back this up.

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 hand axe hafting, and some artifacts are far too large for that. However a thrown hand axe would not usually have penetrated deeply enough to cause very serious injuries. Additionally many hand axes are very small. There is very little evidence of impact damage in most handaxes.

Tony Baker presented an argument in favor of the flake core theory. This theory claims that the hand axe was not 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 hand axes are often found with retouch such as sharpening or shaping, thereby casting doubt on the theory of them being used solely as a flake core. If the hand axe or flake core were only a byproduct, the toolmaker probably wouldn't have resharpened it. Other theories suggest the shape is part tradition and partly a byproduct of the way it is manufactured. Since many early hand axes appear to be made from simple flint pebbles (i.e from river or beach deposits), and because most pebbles are rounded it is 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 detach it), thus creating an asymmetry in the hand axe, when the asymmetry is corrected by removing extra material from the other faces, a trend toward a more pointed (oval) form factor is achieved, (knapping a completely circular hand axe actaully requires considerable correction of the shape to achieve). Studies in the 1990s at Boxgrove, in which a butcher attempted to cut up a carcass with a hand axe, revealed that the hand axe was perfect for getting at the bone marrow, which is high in protein and vitamins and thus was highly prized as a food source.

References

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