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Product Description
SEE MORE ACHEULEAN STONE TOOLS
This rhyolite handaxe was made and used by early humans of the species Homo erectus (ergaster). It comes from an old European collection and was originally surface-collected from an exposed Acheulian site in East Africa. This Lower Paleolithic tool represents the first intelligent design type known to science that was made by primitive humans. Prior to these Acheulian handaxes, only crude pebble and flake tools existed in the human fossil record.
This is a MUSEUM-GRADE example of a typical form of Acheulian handaxe from this region. This example shows superb flaking and execution of this form. It fits PERFECTLY in the EITHER hand with a bulbous grip for the trailing fingers likely needed to get a firm grip as this axe would have been slippery with blood and fat when in use. As an added bonus, the bi-color patina is as good as it gets! Axe is in PERFECT ORIGINAL CONDITION. Tip and edges are intact. It has a unique feature being a prominent natural pocked in the stone being ingeniously oriented as a finger grip when the axe was made. Because of the greater difficulty in working the volcanic stone from which it was made, it is cruder in appearance than its counterparts of the same period, found in North Africa and made of more common quartzite. Quartzite is easier to shape compared to rhyolite so less secondary blows and a more fundamental design is always found on these hand axes of East Africa. Almost never are Paleolithic tools offered from this part of Africa. An absolute must for advanced collections displaying the diversity of Africa's human history and related stone tool development!
During the time of this axe, there were large elephant and hippopotamus species as well as giraffe species in Africa that primitive humans would have hunted. An axe like this was necessary to butcher such large kills.
