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A hand axe (or handaxe or Acheulean hand axe) is a prehistoric stone tool with two faces that is the longest-used tool in human history. [1] It is made from stone, usually flint or chert that has been "reduced" and shaped from a larger piece by knapping , or hitting against another stone.
This is a list of historical pre-modern weapons grouped according to their uses, with rough classes set aside for very similar weapons. Some weapons may fit more than one category (e.g. the spear may be used either as a polearm or as a projectile), and the earliest gunpowder weapons which fit within the period are also included.
Acheulean hand axes from Kent. The types shown are (clockwise from top) cordate, ficron and ovate. It was the longest-used tool of human history. The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to prehistoric technology. Prehistoric technology – technology that predates recorded history. History is the study of the past ...
This was struck from the lateral edge of the hand-axe close to the intended cutting area, resulting in the removal of a flake running along (parallel to) the blade of the axe to create a neat and very sharp working edge. This distinctive tranchet flake can be identified amongst flint-knapping debris at Acheulean sites. [citation needed]
The Dane axe or long axe (including Danish axe and English long axe) is a type of European early medieval period two-handed battle axe with a very long shaft, around 0.9–1.2 metres (2 ft 11 in – 3 ft 11 in) at the low end to 1.5–1.7 metres (4 ft 11 in – 5 ft 7 in) or more at the long end.
In Old English, axes were referred to as æces, from which the Modern English word derives. [63] Most axes found in early Anglo-Saxon graves were fairly small with straight or slightly curved blades. [63] Such hand-axes primarily served as tools rather than weapons, but could have been used as the latter if the need arose. [64]
Cleavers, found in many Acheulean assemblages such as Africa, were similar in size and manner of hand axes. The differences between a hand axe and a cleaver is that a hand axe has a more pointed tip, while a cleaver will have a more transverse "bit" that consists of an untrimmed portion of the edge oriented perpendicular to the long axis of the tool.
The Saltley handaxe is a quartzite hand axe found in the gravels of the valley of the River Rea in the Saltley area of Birmingham, England in 1890. Believed to be approximately 500,000 years old, [1] it was the first human artifact from the paleolithic era found in the English Midlands, which had previously been considered not to have been inhabited before the end of the last glacial period.