History
Examples of hand axes first appeared 1.6mya in the later Oldowan (Mode I), called the "developed Oldowan" by Mary Leakey, but became more abundant in mode II Acheulean industries that appear in what is now Southern Ethiopia around 1.4 million years ago, although some of the best examples come from 1.2 million year old deposits in Olduvai Gorge. They are also known in Mousterian industries. In North America, hand axes make up one of the dominant tool industries, starting from the terminal Pleistocene and continuing throughout the Holocene. For example, the Folsom point and Clovis point traditions (collectively known as the fluted points) are associated with Paleo Indians, some of the first people to colonize the new world (see Models of migration to the New World). Further, hand axe technology is almost unknown in Australian prehistory.
Oldowan hand axes appeared sometime between 1.6 and 1.4 million years ago. They are most closely associated with Homo ergaster. The average hand axe from H. ergaster was 15 cm (6 in), but some were as long as 30 cm (12 in). Unlike earlier stone tool technology, hand axes have three distinctive shapes; hand axes, cleavers, and picks. Hand axes were shaped like a tear drop, with two cutting edges and a sharp point. Cleavers were like hand axes, but with the point broken off and replaced with a cutting edge. Picks were thicker, more triangular hand axes. These three shapes are very uniform. For example, the ratio of the length and width of hand axes is fairly consistent across hand axes from this period. These hand axed tools were possibly used in five ways by H. ergaster.
- 1. Butchering hunted or scavenged animals
- 2. Digging for tubers, animals, water
- 3. Removing tree bark
- 4. Throwing at prey
- 5. Source for flake tools
Read more about this topic: Hand Axe
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Jesus Christ belonged to the true race of the prophets. He saw with an open eye the mystery of the soul. Drawn by its severe harmony, ravished with its beauty, he lived in it, and had his being there. Alone in all history he estimated the greatness of man.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The history of any nation follows an undulatory course. In the trough of the wave we find more or less complete anarchy; but the crest is not more or less complete Utopia, but only, at best, a tolerably humane, partially free and fairly just society that invariably carries within itself the seeds of its own decadence.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“It would be naive to think that peace and justice can be achieved easily. No set of rules or study of history will automatically resolve the problems.... However, with faith and perseverance,... complex problems in the past have been resolved in our search for justice and peace. They can be resolved in the future, provided, of course, that we can think of five new ways to measure the height of a tall building by using a barometer.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)