What is "hand axe"

alt. A stone tool make by flaking to produce an edge, used without a handle. n. A stone tool make by flaking to produce an edge, used without a handle.

n. a stone tool with a cutting edge; the stone is held in the hand and used for chopping [syn: hand ax]

A hand axe is a prehistoric stone tool with two faces that is the longest-used tool in human history. It is usually composed of flint or chert. It is characteristic of the lower Acheulean and middle Palaeolithic ( Mousterian) periods. Its technical name (biface) comes from the fact that the archetypical model is a generally bifacial Lithic flake with an almond-shaped (amygdaloidal) morphology. Hand axes tend to be symmetrical along their longitudinal axis and formed by pressure or percussion. The most common hand axes have a pointed end and rounded base, which gives them their characteristic 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 a British publication in 1800. Up 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; in fact they are still used in some rural areas as an amulet to protect against storms).

Hand axe tools were possibly used in five ways:

• 1. Butchering hunted or scavenged animals
• 2. Digging for tubers, animals, water
• 3. Chopping wood and removing tree bark
• 4. Throwing at prey
• 5. As a source for flake tools