Four classes of hand axe are:
1. Large, thick hand axes reduced from cores or thick flakes, referred to as blanks
2. Thinned blanks. While form remains rough and uncertain, an effort has been made to reduce the … See more

No academic consensus describes their use, but it is commonly agreed that the hand axe was some form of unhafted all-purpose tool. The pioneers of Palaeolithic tool studies first suggested that bifaces were used as axes despite the fact that they have a sharp … See more

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 … See more

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 … See more

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. See more

In 1969 in the 2nd edition of World Prehistory, Grahame Clark proposed an evolutionary progression of flint-knapping industries (also … See more

Given the typological difficulties in defining the essence of a hand axe, it is important when analysing them to take account of their archaeological … See more