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

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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.

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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

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The oldest known Oldowan tools were found in Gona, Ethiopia. These are dated to about 2.6 mya.
Early examples of hand

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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 a

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Given the typological difficulties in defining 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

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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,

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