It isn’t uncommon to find oversized Acheulean hand axes such as this, there are also many that seem “over engineered” and show no signs of use. These hand axes were the only type of technology manufactured by members of the genus Homo at the time that required advanced skill. As such it seems that they may have been used as a “social flex”, many were made to be used for a variety of day to day tasks, but others were made to show off. Some scholars have even speculated that they could have been a form of proto-money used as trade items.
ComprehensiveGate667 on
Looks more like a spear or halberd than an axe to me
squidvett on
Ah how the design process must have been 300,000 years ago.
“That thing Acks made mashes turds better than it cuts them. Back to the drawing board!”
“Yes dear but it is a pretty thing. It would look nice on the wall of our cave.”
“Woman, what kind of black magicks are you gonna use to put this thing on the wall? You can barely lift it! We don’t have anything that can make this thing stick up there anyway.”
“Nonsense. There’s a fissure I can cram it in, and it’ll just stick out of the wall and we can look up at it. It’s so pretty. Can’t we keep it?”
“Whatever, Art. I’m going back to Acks’s to figure out how to make something useful out of this.”
“Oh, Dick. Why are you so negative all the time?”
ezzda1 on
I dunno about the hand axe but it looks perfect for wedging the spiked end into and tying it to the end of a forked branch or antler to me. But I also dunno if 300,000 years ago they would know that. I suppose if they had the skills to create these things so perfectly it would be reasonable to think they could tie it to a stick and swing it like we would a steel one today.
LaplandAxeman on
I think huge might be a bit of a reach. I have a big collection of axes which I use regularly and some would be larger and probably heavier than that. It looks like a big tool that was used for heavy work / large force
Ladon-4_5_5_12_7 on
More: **300,000** year old double-pointed **wooden stick** shows it was **scraped, seasoned and sanded** before being used to kill animals.
300.000 or 3000. Carbon dating doesn’t know the difference, tho.
1984IN on
My theory as someone that has NO expertise in ancient humans, but quite a bit in hunting and butchering large game is, and I’m spit balling here, maybe they were for separating the joints of mega fauna during butchering. It is incredibly hard, especially if you are a novice to separate the knee joint on even a medium sized white tail deer or pig with a medium sized buck knife. Experience makes it easier, but it’s still a bitch. The size and shape to me, tells me that they used it to separate that joint in mammoth and other large prey items quickly. One guy holds in the right place, another smacks it with a large branch until the joint pops. Idk, just my first impression of what it could be used for effectively.
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Giants
It isn’t uncommon to find oversized Acheulean hand axes such as this, there are also many that seem “over engineered” and show no signs of use. These hand axes were the only type of technology manufactured by members of the genus Homo at the time that required advanced skill. As such it seems that they may have been used as a “social flex”, many were made to be used for a variety of day to day tasks, but others were made to show off. Some scholars have even speculated that they could have been a form of proto-money used as trade items.
Looks more like a spear or halberd than an axe to me
Ah how the design process must have been 300,000 years ago.
“That thing Acks made mashes turds better than it cuts them. Back to the drawing board!”
“Yes dear but it is a pretty thing. It would look nice on the wall of our cave.”
“Woman, what kind of black magicks are you gonna use to put this thing on the wall? You can barely lift it! We don’t have anything that can make this thing stick up there anyway.”
“Nonsense. There’s a fissure I can cram it in, and it’ll just stick out of the wall and we can look up at it. It’s so pretty. Can’t we keep it?”
“Whatever, Art. I’m going back to Acks’s to figure out how to make something useful out of this.”
“Oh, Dick. Why are you so negative all the time?”
I dunno about the hand axe but it looks perfect for wedging the spiked end into and tying it to the end of a forked branch or antler to me. But I also dunno if 300,000 years ago they would know that. I suppose if they had the skills to create these things so perfectly it would be reasonable to think they could tie it to a stick and swing it like we would a steel one today.
I think huge might be a bit of a reach. I have a big collection of axes which I use regularly and some would be larger and probably heavier than that. It looks like a big tool that was used for heavy work / large force
More: **300,000** year old double-pointed **wooden stick** shows it was **scraped, seasoned and sanded** before being used to kill animals.
Source: [https://www.sci.news/archaeology/middle-pleistocene-woodworking-skills-12113.html](https://www.sci.news/archaeology/middle-pleistocene-woodworking-skills-12113.html)
300.000 or 3000. Carbon dating doesn’t know the difference, tho.
My theory as someone that has NO expertise in ancient humans, but quite a bit in hunting and butchering large game is, and I’m spit balling here, maybe they were for separating the joints of mega fauna during butchering. It is incredibly hard, especially if you are a novice to separate the knee joint on even a medium sized white tail deer or pig with a medium sized buck knife. Experience makes it easier, but it’s still a bitch. The size and shape to me, tells me that they used it to separate that joint in mammoth and other large prey items quickly. One guy holds in the right place, another smacks it with a large branch until the joint pops. Idk, just my first impression of what it could be used for effectively.
Our giant ancestors. Wow