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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 2 3
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 is not agreed upon.
Function
As most handaxes have a sharp border all around, there is 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 even digging tool for general purpose use, probably mainly for cutting meat and hacking through bone & muscle fiber).
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 would not usually have penetrated deeply enough to cause very serious injuries. Additionally many handaxes are very small.
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 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 was just a simple flake core?). Other theories suggest the shape is part tradition and partly even a byproduct of the way it is manufactured; Since many early handaxes appear to be made from simple flint pebbles (i.e from river or beach deposits), and because most pebbles are rounded - when making, 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 dettach it), 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 (oval) form factor is achieved, (knapping a completely circular handaxe actaully requires considerable correction of the shape to achieve). Studies in the 1990's at Boxgrove in which a Butcher was given a handaxe and told to butcher a carcass revealed that the handaxe was perfect for getting at the bone Marrow which is high in protien and vitamins and was highly prized as a food source.
References
- A. S. Barnes/H. H. Kidder, Differentes techniques de débitage à La Ferrassie. Bull. Soc. Préhist. Franç. 33, 1936, 272-288.
- C. A Bergmann/M. B. Roberts, Flaking technology at the Acheulean site of Boxgrove, West Sussex, England. Rev. Arch. Picardie, Numero Special, 1-2, 1988, 105-113.
- F. Bordes, Le couche Moustérienne du gisement du Moustier (Dordogne): typologie et techniques de taille. Soc. Préhist. Française 45, 1948, 113-125.
- F. Bordes, Observations typologiques et techniques sur le Perigordien supérieur du Corbiac (Dordogne). Soc. Préhist. Française 67, 1970, 105-113.
- F. Bordes, Le débitage levallois et ses variantes. Bull. Soc. Préhist. Française 77/2, 1980, 45-49.
- P. Callow, The Olduvai bifaces: technology and raw materials. In: M. D. Leakey/D. A. Roe, Olduvai Gorge Vol. 5. (Cambridge 1994) 235-253.
- H. L. Dibble, Reduction sequences in the manufacture of Mousterian implements in France. In: O. Soffer (Hrsg.), The Pleistocene of the Old world, regional perspectives (New York 1987).
- P. R. Fish, Beyond tools: middle palaeolithic debitage: analysis and cultural inference. J. Anthr. Res. 1979, 374-386.
- F. Knowles, Stone-Worker’s Progress (Oxford 1953).
- Marek Kohn/Steven Mithen Axes, products of sexual selection?, Antiquity 73, 1999, 518-26.
- K. Kuman, The Oldowan Industry from Sterkfontein: raw materials and core forms. In: R. Soper/G. Pwiti (Hrsg.), Aspects of African Archaeology. Papers from the 10th Congress of the Pan-African Association for Prehistory and Related Studies. Univ. of Zimbabwe Pubilcations (Harare 1996) 139-146.
- J. M. Merino, Tipología lítica. Editorial Munibe 1994. Suplemento, (San Sebastián 1994). ISSN 1698-3807.
- H. Müller-Beck, Zur Morphologie altpaläolithischer Steingeräte. Ethnogr.-Archäol.-Zeitschr. 24, 1983, 401-433.
- M. Newcomer, Some quantitative experiments in handaxe manufacture. World Arch. 3, 1971, 85-94.
- Th. Weber, Die Steinartefakte des Homo erectus von Bilzingsleben. In: D. Mania/Th. Weber (Hrsg.), Bilzingsleben III. Veröff. Landesmus. Vorgesch. Halle 39, 1986, 65-220.
External links
- Stone Age Hand Axes, abotech.com edition
