Editing Hand axe (section)

===Tools sometimes categorized as bifaces===
Hand axes constitute an important group artefacts from the Acheulean. They are particularly important in open air archaeological sites (Keelley suggested that they are less common in cave sites).<ref name=keeley1/> Hand axes, chopping tools and trihedral picks are considered ''core'' utensils, which were commonly manufactured out of stones, blocks or rock nodules. However this grouping is problematic as these tools were often also fabricated from (large) flakes. Another common suggestion is to refer to flake tools as ''micro industry'', as opposed to the more general size referred to as ''macro industry'', which includes hand axes and cleavers. However, some scrapers are as big as hand axes.

*The most elaborated [[chopping tool]]s and partial hand axes are linked and it is often difficult to distinguish between them. The concept of chopping tools is based on their lack of formal standardization (which is typical of hand axes) and includes the possibility that the pieces are shallow cores, which is unthinkable for the bifaces (except the nucleiforms).
*While hand axes and cleavers occasionally served for similar tasks, their design is fundamentally different.
*[[Trihedral Neolithic|Trihedral picks]] are no longer considered a specialized type of hand axe.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Leroy-Prost |first1=Christiane|last2=Dauvois|first2=Michel |last3=Leroy |first3=Jean-Pierre|title=Projet pour un F.T.A. du groupe des trièdres de l'Acheuléen nord-africain |language=fr |year=1981|journal=Préhistoire Africaine|publisher=Melanges offerts au doyen Linel Balout|editor1-first=Colette |editor1-last=Roubet|editor2-first=Henri-Jean |editor2-last=Hugot|editor3-first=Georges |editor3-last=Souville|id=Editions ADPF |location=Paris}}</ref>

Another group of tools commonly associated with hand axes is the ''biface leafpoint tools'' from the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic in the Old World. The difference between the two types is based on the latter's fine, light finishing with a soft hammer and in a morphology that suggests a specific function, possibly as the point of a projectile or a knife.{{sfn|Bordes|1961|p=41}} Representatives of these tools include well known examples from the specialized literature:{{Quote|The term leaf piece should be prefixed to leaf point, as many of them are not pointed. They have been found sporadically in a number of Mousterian sites in France, but they are most common in central European Mousterian sites and African sites from the end of the Aterian|Bordes{{sfn|Bordes|1961|p=41}}}}
*The biface leafpoint tools of central Europe are called {{lang|de|Blattspitzen}} ({{literal translation|leaf points}}). They are [[projectile point]]s belonging to the Middle Palaeolithic with a leaf-shaped form. They are often dual pointed and flat, making them similar to [[Solutrean]] [[Bay laurel|laurel]] leaf blades. It is possible to distinguish the two only from their archaeological context. {{lang|de|Blattspitzen}} survived in some Upper Palaeolithic cultures. The pieces from the eastern European [[Upper Palaeolithic|Szeletien]] culture (both {{lang|de|Blattspitzen}} and Micoquian bifaces) could be the link that connects the tradition of Lower and Middle Palaeolithic bifacial objects with those from the Upper Palaeolithic and beyond.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sonnevile-Bordes|first= Denise|title=L'áge de la pierre|language=fr|year=1961|publisher=Éditeur P.U.F., collection Qu sais-je?|location=Paris|page=106}}</ref>[[Image:Blattspitzen.png|thumb|Central European blattspitzen]][[Image:Ateriense Punta foliácea.png|thumb|upright=.35|[[Aterian]] leafpoint piece]][[Image:Pieza foliacea bifacial-1.png|thumb|upright=1.13|[[Stillbay]] leafpoint piece]][[Image:Pieza foliacea bifacial-2.png|thumb|upright=1|Leafpoint piece, S'baikia, Algeria]]
*Hand axes found in Africa come from both the [[Aterian]] culture of North Africa and the [[Stillbay]] culture from East Africa.<ref>{{cite book|last=Leroi-Gourhan|first= André|chapter=El Paleolítico Medio|title=La Prehistoria|language=es|year=1980|publisher=Labour |location=Barcelona|isbn=978-84-335-9309-2}}</ref> Both these cases relate to Mousterian cultures, although they are relatively late and have their own style, at the end of the so-called African ''[[Stone Age#The Middle Stone Age (MSA)|Middle Stone Age]]''. In both cases a variety of objects are found, triangular, oval and other leaf-point. Hand axes and unifaces also came from other cultures.