In search of the Acheulean hand axe: A Prehistoric Investigation: A technology that remained unchanged for five times longer than Homo sapiens has existed (From the beginning). Kindle Edition
by Christopher Seddon (Author)
Publisher: Glanville Publications
Publication date: July 5, 2022
Language: English
ASIN: B0B5Y16Q9F
Consider a multipurpose tool that has been in use, more or less unchanged, for one and a quarter million years. The earliest-known examples of the teardrop-shaped Acheulean stone hand axe are 1,760,000 years old, while the most recent examples are roughly 55,000 years old.
Ubiquitous in the archaeological record of Africa and western Eurasia, this most distinctive of prehistoric artifacts outlived the human species that invented it, Homo erectus, and it endured five times longer than Homo sapiens has existed.
The Acheulean hand axe stands alongside the Moon landing, the Pyramids, and Shakespeare’s works as a single object or achievement to represent humanity.
Although it was not the first tool made and used by early hominins, it was the first to be recognized as a prehistoric implement.
It played a pivotal role in demonstrating that humanity had existed for far longer than nineteenth-century scholars had believed.
