Terminology
For the purposes of this article, four classes are defined :
- Class I consists of large, thick hand axes reduced from cores or thick flakes; these are referred to as blanks.
- Class II consists of thinned blanks. While form remains rough and uncertain, an effort has been made to reduce the thickness of the flake or core.
- Class III hand axe may be either preforms or crude formalized tools, such as adzes.
- Class IV includes the finer formalized tool types such as projectile points and fine bifaces.
While Class IV hand axes are referred to as "formalized tools", bifaces from any stage of a lithic reduction sequence may be used as tools. (Also, other biface typologies make five divisions rather than four).
Read more about this topic: Hand Axe