Editing Hand axe (section)

==Uses==
Most researchers think that handaxes were primarily used as cutting tools.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> The pioneers of Palaeolithic tool studies first suggested that bifaces were used as [[axe]]s despite the fact that they have a sharp border all around. Other uses seem to show that hand axes were a multi-functional tool,<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Murray |first1=John K. |title=Exploring handaxe function at Shishan Marsh – 1: combining qualitative and quantitative approaches using the edge damage distribution method |date=2017 |hdl=1828/8462 }}{{pn|date=March 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Posnansky |first1=Merrick |title=Some Functional Considerations on the Handaxe |journal=Man |date=1959 |volume=59 |pages=42–44 |doi=10.2307/2796175 |jstor=2796175 }}</ref> leading some to describe them as the "Acheulean [[Swiss Army knife]]". Other academics have suggested that the hand axe was simply a byproduct of being used as a core to make other tools,<ref name="Baker 2007 The Acheulean Handaxe at Boxgrove"/> a weapon,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=O'Brien |first1=Eileen M. |title=The Projectile Capabilities of an Acheulian Handaxe From Olorgesailie |journal=Current Anthropology |date=1981 |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=76–79 |doi=10.1086/202607 |jstor=2742421 |s2cid=144098416 }}</ref> or was perhaps used ritually.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Suwa |first1=Gen |last2=Asfaw |first2=Berhane |last3=Sano |first3=Katsuhiro |last4=Beyene |first4=Yonas |title=Reply to Barkai: Implications of the Konso bone handaxe |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |date=8 December 2020 |volume=117 |issue=49 |pages=30894–30895 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2018084117 |doi-access=free |pmid=33109716 |pmc=7733793 |bibcode=2020PNAS..11730894S }}</ref>
[[File:Agarre de un bifaz.png|thumb|Drawing of how a biface aka hand axe may have been held]]

[[H. G. Wells|Wells]] proposed in 1899 that hand axes were used as missile weapons to hunt prey<ref>{{cite book |last=Kohn |first=Marek |title=As We Know it: Coming to Terms with an Evolved Mind |publisher=Granta Books |year=1999 |isbn=978-1-86207-025-7 |page=59 |author-link=Marek Kohn}}</ref> – an interpretation supported by [[William H. Calvin|Calvin]], who suggested that some of the rounder specimens of Acheulean hand axes were used as hunting projectiles or as "killer frisbees" meant to be thrown at a herd of animals at a water hole so as to stun one of them. This assertion was inspired by findings from the [[Olorgesailie]] archaeological site in [[Kenya]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Calvin|first= William H.|title=Cómo piensan los cerebros|year=2001|publisher=Publisher Debate|place=Madrid|isbn=978-84-8306-378-1}}</ref> Few specimens indicate hand axe [[hafting]], and some are too large for that use. However, few hand axes show signs of heavy damage indicative of throwing, modern experiments have shown the technique to often result in flat-faced landings,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Samson |first1=David R. |title=Stones of Contention: The Acheulean Handaxe Lethal Projectile Controversy |journal=Lithic Technology |date=2006 |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=127–135 |doi=10.1080/01977261.2006.11721035 |jstor=23273546 |s2cid=130006870 }}</ref> and many modern scholars consider the "hurling" theory to be poorly conceived but so attractive that it has taken a life of its own.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Whittaker |first1=John C. |last2=McCall |first2=Grant |title=Handaxe-Hurling Hominids: An Unlikely Story |journal=Current Anthropology |date=2001 |volume=42 |issue=4 |pages=566–572 |doi=10.1086/322547 |jstor=10.1086/322547 |s2cid=224792962 }}</ref>

As hand axes can be recycled, resharpened and remade, they could have been used for varied tasks. For this reason it may be misleading to think of them as ''axes'', they could have been used for tasks such as digging, cutting, scraping, chopping, piercing and hammering. However, other tools, such as small knives, are better suited for some of these tasks,<ref name=Spikins2012>{{cite journal |last1=Spikins |first1=Penny |title=Goodwill hunting? Debates over the 'meaning' of Lower Palaeolithic handaxe form revisited |journal=World Archaeology |date=September 2012 |volume=44 |issue=3 |pages=378–392 |doi=10.1080/00438243.2012.725889 |s2cid=144483576 |url=https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/78511/1/Goodwill_Hunting_Open_Access_Version.pdf }}</ref> and many hand axes have been found with no traces of use.

Baker suggested that since so many hand axes have been found that have no retouching, perhaps the hand axe was not itself a tool, but a large [[lithic core]] from which flakes had been removed and used as tools (flake core theory).<ref name="Baker 2007 The Acheulean Handaxe at Boxgrove">{{cite report |last1=Baker |first1=Tony |date=30 May 2007 |id={{CiteSeerX|565c3c10435885fa6126646a77ebff4e0645af0d|type=pid}} |title=The Acheulean Handaxe at Boxgrove }}{{self-published inline|date=March 2024}}</ref> On the other hand, there are many hand axes found with retouching such as sharpening or shaping, which casts doubt on this idea.

Other theories suggest the shape is part tradition and part by-product of its manufacture. Many early hand axes appear to be made from simple rounded pebbles (from river or beach deposits). It is necessary to detach a 'starting flake', often much larger than the rest of the flakes (due to the oblique angle of a rounded pebble requiring greater force to detach it), thus creating an asymmetry. Correcting the asymmetry by removing material from the other faces, encouraged a more pointed (oval) form factor. (Knapping a completely circular hand axe requires considerable correction of the shape.) Studies in the 1990s at [[Boxgrove]], in which a butcher attempted to cut up a carcass with a hand axe, revealed that the hand axe was able to expose [[bone marrow]].

[[Marek Kohn|Kohn]] and [[Steven Mithen|Mithen]] independently arrived at the explanation that symmetric hand axes were favoured by [[sexual selection]] as [[Fitness (biology)|fitness indicators]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Singing Neanderthals|last=Mithen|first= Steven |author-link=Steven Mithen|year=2005|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|location=London|pages=188–191}}</ref> Kohn in his book ''As We Know It'' wrote that the hand axe is "a highly visible indicator of fitness, and so becomes a criterion of mate choice."<ref>Kohn, Marek (1999), p. 137</ref> [[Geoffrey Miller (psychologist)|Miller]] followed their example and said that hand axes have characteristics that make them subject to sexual selection, such as that they were made for over a million years throughout Africa, Europe and Asia, they were made in large numbers, and most were impractical for utilitarian use. He claimed that a single design persisting across time and space cannot be explained by cultural imitation and draws a parallel between [[bowerbird]]s' [[wikt:bower|bowers]] (built to attract potential mates and used only during courtship) and [[Pleistocene]] [[Hominidae|hominids]]' hand axes. He called hand axe building a "genetically inherited propensity to construct a certain type of object." He discards the idea that they were used as missile weapons because more efficient weapons were available, such as [[javelin]]s. Although he accepted that some hand axes may have been used for practical purposes, he agreed with Kohn and Mithen who showed that many hand axes show considerable skill, design and symmetry beyond that needed for utility. Some were too big, such as the Maritime Academy handaxe<ref name="IA">{{cite journal |last1=Ingrey |first1=Letty |last2=Bates |first2=Martin |last3=Duffy |first3=Sarah |last4=Pope |first4=Matt |title=A New Palaeolithic Giant Handaxe from Britain: Initial Results from Excavations at Maritime Academy, Medway, Kent |journal=Internet Archaeology |date=June 2023 |issue=61 |doi=10.11141/ia.61.6 |doi-access=free }}</ref> or the "Great Hand Axe" found in Furze Platt, England that is 30.6&nbsp;cm long<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hodgson |first1=Derek |title=The First Appearance of Symmetry in the Human Lineage: Where Perception Meets Art |journal=Symmetry |date=March 2011 |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=37–53 |doi=10.3390/sym3010037 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2011Symm....3...37H }}</ref> (other scholars measure it as 39.5&nbsp;cm long).<ref name=Spikins2012/> Some were too small - less than two inches. Some were "overdetermined",<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wynn |first1=Thomas |last2=Berlant |first2=Tony |chapter=The handaxe aesthetic |pages=278–303 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vTCPDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA278 |editor1-last=Overmann |editor1-first=Karenleigh A. |editor2-last=Coolidge |editor2-first=Frederick L. |title=Squeezing Minds From Stones: Cognitive Archaeology and the Evolution of the Human Mind |date=2019 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-085462-1 }}</ref> featuring symmetry beyond practical requirements and showing evidence of unnecessary attention to form and finish. Some were actually made out of bone instead of stone and thus were not very practical, suggesting a cultural or ritual use.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zutovski |first1=Katia |last2=Barkai |first2=Ran |title=The use of elephant bones for making Acheulian handaxes: A fresh look at old bones |journal=Quaternary International |date=June 2016 |volume=406 |pages=227–238 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2015.01.033 |bibcode=2016QuInt.406..227Z }}</ref> Miller thinks that the most important clue is that under [[electron microscopes|electron microscopy]] hand axes show no signs of use or evidence of edge wear. Others argue that little evidence for use-wear simply relates to the particular sedimentological conditions, rather than being evidence of discarding without use.<ref name=Spikins2012/> It has been noted that hand axes can be good handicaps in [[Amotz Zahavi|Zahavi]]'s [[handicap principle]] theory: learning costs are high, risks of injury, they require physical strength, hand-eye coordination, planning, patience, pain tolerance and resistance to infection from cuts and bruises when making or using such a hand axe.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Mating Mind: How sexual choice shaped the evolution of human nature|last=Miller|first= Geoffrey|author-link=Geoffrey Miller (psychologist)|year=2001|publisher=Vintage|location=London|isbn=978-0-09-928824-4|pages=288–291}}</ref>

===Evidence from wear analysis===
The [[use-wear analysis]] of Palaeolithic hand axes is carried out on findings from emblematic sites across nearly all of Western Europe. Keeley and Semenov were the pioneers of this specialized investigation. Keeley stated, "The morphology of typical hand axes suggests a greater range of potential activities than those of flakes".<ref name="keeley1">{{cite book|last=Keeley|first= Lawrence H. |chapter=Microwear Analysis of Lithics|title=The Lower Palaeolithic site at Hoxne, England|year=1993|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=London|isbn=978-0-226-76111-4|pages=129–149}}</ref>

Many problems need to be overcome in carrying out this type of analysis. One is the difficulty in observing larger pieces with a microscope. Of the millions of known pieces and despite their long role in human history, few have been thoroughly studied. Another arises from the clear evidence that the same tasks were performed more effectively using utensils made from flakes:
{{Quote|This raises the question: why make hand axes, whose production is more complicated and costly, if the flakes can do the same work with the same efficiency? The answer could be that, in general, hand axes were not conceived for a particular function (excluding certain specialized types) [...], they were not made for one main task but covered a much more general purpose.|Keeley{{sfn|Keeley|1993|p=136}}}}

Keeley based his observations on archaeological sites in England. He proposed that in base settlements where it was possible to predict future actions and where greater control on routine activities was common, the preferred tools were made from specialized flakes, such as [[racloir]]s, backed knives, [[scraper (archaeology)|scrapers]] and punches. However, hand axes were more suitable on expeditions and in seasonal camps, where unforeseen tasks were more common. Their main advantage in these situations was the lack of specialization and adaptability to multiple eventualities. A hand axe has a long blade with different curves and angles, some sharper and others more resistant, including points and notches. All of this is combined in one tool. Given the right circumstances, it is possible to make use of [[Debitage|loose flakes]].<ref name="keley2">{{cite book|last=Keeley |first=Lawrence H.|chapter=The Uses of Hand Axes|title=Experimental Determination of Stone Tool Uses|year=1980|publisher=University of Chicago|location=London|isbn=978-0-226-42889-5|pages=160–165}}</ref> In the same book, Keeley states that a number of the hand axes studied were used as knives to cut meat (such as hand axes from [[Hoxne]] and [[Caddington]]). He identified that the point of another hand axe had been used as a clockwise [[drill]]. This hand axe came from [[Clacton-on-Sea]] (all of these sites are located in the east of England). Toth reached similar conclusions for pieces from the Spanish site in [[Ambrona]] ([[Province of Soria|Soria]]).<ref>{{cite book|last1=González Echegaray |first1=Joaquín |last2=Freeman |first2=Leslie Gordon |title=Le Paléolithique inférieur et moyen en Espagne |language=fr |trans-title=The Lower and Middle Palaeolithic in Spain |year=1998|publisher=Jérôme Millon |series=Collection L'homme des origines: Préhistoire d'Europe |volume=6|isbn=978-2-84137-064-1|page=134}}</ref> Analysis carried out by Domínguez-Rodrigo and co-workers on the primitive Acheulean site in Peninj ([[Tanzania]]) on a series of tools dated 1.5 [[Myr|mya]] shows clear microwear produced by plant [[phytolith]]s, suggesting that the hand axes were used to work wood.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Domínguez-Rodrigo |first1=M.|last2=Serrallonga |first2=J.|last3=Juan-Tresserras |first3=J.|last4=Alcalá |first4=L.|last5=Luque |first5=L.|title=Woodworking activities by early humans: a plant residue analysis on Acheulian stone tools from Peninj (Tanzania)|year=2001|journal=[[Journal of Human Evolution]]|volume=40|number=4|pages=289–299|doi=10.1006/jhev.2000.0466|pmid=11312582|bibcode=2001JHumE..40..289D }}</ref> Among other uses, use-wear evidence for [[fire making]] has been identified on dozens of later [[Middle Paleolithic|Middle Palaeolithic]] hand axes from [[France]], suggesting [[Neanderthal]]s struck these tools with the mineral [[pyrite]] to produce sparks at least 50,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sorensen |first1=A. C. |last2=Claud |first2=E. |last3=Soressi |first3=M. |title=Neandertal fire-making technology inferred from microwear analysis |journal=Scientific Reports |date=19 July 2018 |volume=8 |issue=1 |page=10065 |doi=10.1038/s41598-018-28342-9 |pmid=30026576 |pmc=6053370 |bibcode=2018NatSR...810065S }}</ref>
[[File:Bifaz-Rotura de la punta.png|center|thumb|upright=1.5|{{center|Drawing of the fracturing of the point of a hand axe, due to its use.}}]]

====Macroscopic traces====
Some hand axes were used with force that left clearly visible marks. Other visible marks can be left as the scars from retouching, on occasion it is possible to distinguish them from marks left by the initial manufacture. One of the most common cases is when a point breaks. This was seen at sites in Europe, Africa and Asia. One example comes from the El Basalito site in [[Province of Salamanca|Salamanca]], where excavation uncovered fragments of a hand axe with marks at the tip that appeared to be the result of the action of a wedge, which would have subjected the object to high levels of torsion that broke the tip.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Benito del Rey |first1=Luis |last2=Benito Álvarez |first2=José Manuel |chapter=El análisis funcional de artefactos líticos prehistóricos: la Trazalogía|title=Métodos y materias instrumentales en Prehistoria y Arqueología (la Edad de la Piedra Tallada más antigua) |volume=II: Tecnología y tipología|year=1998|publisher=Gráficas Cervántes |location=Salamanca|isbn=978-84-95195-05-0}}</ref> A break or extreme wear can affect a tool's point or any other part. Such wear was reworked by means of a secondary working as discussed above. In some cases this reconstruction is easily identifiable and was carried out using techniques such as the {{lang|fr|coup de tranchet}} (French, meaning "[[Tranchet axe|tranchet]] blow"), or simply with scale or scalariform retouches that alter an edge's symmetry and line.
[[File:Bifaz-Punta reconstruida.png|center|thumb|upright=1.5|Acheulean hand axe whose point fractured and was reconstructed using a different working]]