page_title: Hand axe
section_title: Macroscopic traces
hierarchical_section_title: Hand axe / Uses / Evidence from wear analysis / Macroscopic traces
caption_attribution_description: Español: Bifaz achelense, procede de un yaciminento superficial de la provincia de Salamanca (España), en el valle del Tormes, afluente del Duero. Su punta se rompió y fue reconstruida. English: Acheulean hand axe that proceeds from a superficial site in the Salamanca province (Spain), in the valley Tormes river, tributary of Douro river. Its tip was broken and it was resharpened Français&#160;: Biface acheuléen, originaire d'un gisement de surface de la province de Salamanque (Espagne), dans la vallée de la rivière Tormes, affluent du Duero. Leur point fût fracturé et retaillée pour la reconstruire.
context_page_description: A hand axe is a prehistoric stone tool with two faces that is the longest-used tool in human history. It is usually made from flint or chert. It is characteristic of the lower Acheulean and middle Palaeolithic periods. Its technical name comes from the fact that the archetypical model is generally bifacial Lithic flake and almond-shaped. Hand axes tend to be symmetrical along their longitudinal axis and formed by pressure or percussion. The most common hand axes have a pointed end and rounded base, which gives them their characteristic shape, and both faces have been knapped to remove the natural cortex, at least partially. Hand axes are a type of the somewhat wider biface group of two-faced tools or weapons.
  Hand axes were the first prehistoric tools to be recognized as such: the first published representation of a hand axe was drawn by John Frere and appeared in a British publication in 1800. Until that time, their origins were thought to be natural or supernatural. They were called thunderstones, because popular tradition held that they had fallen from the sky during storms or were formed inside the earth by a lightning strike and then appeared at the surface.
context_section_description: 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 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. 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 coup de tranchet (French, meaning "tranchet blow"), or simply with scale or scalariform retouches that alter an edge's symmetry and line.
caption: Acheulean hand axe whose point fractured and was reconstructed using a different working.
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