What is Hand axe?
[[File:Acheuleanhandaxes.jpg|right|thumb|230px| These tools were maybe out of flint .Acheulean hand axes from [[Kent]]. The types shown are (clockwise from top) cordate, ficron and ovate. The two lower axes are reduced in scale.]] [[File:Handaxe-of-Um-Qatafa.png|right|thumb|230px|Hand axe from Um-Quatfa]] {{Infobox artefact | name = Gray's Inn Lane Hand Axe | image = [[File:Gray's Inn Lane Hand Axe.jpg|230px|]] | image_caption = Pointed flint hand axe from Gray's Inn Lane, London | material = | size = {{convert|165|mm|0|abbr=on}} long | writing = | created = 350,000 years ago | discovered = [[Gray's Inn Lane]], [[London]] | location = [[British Museum]], [[London]] | id = | registration = <!--{{British-Museum-db|}}Please add id nos--> }} A '''hand axe''' is a [[stone tool]] of the Lower (early) and Middle [[Paleolithic]] [[Stone Age]]. It was a bifacial, similar on both sides, and held in the hand, not with a handle like a modern [[axe]]. It was held directly in the hand, perhaps wrapped in a piece of [[leather]]. This kind of [[axe]] is typical of the [[Acheulean]] and the [[Mousterian]] cultures, and is the longest-used [[tool]] of human history. Hand axes were certainly used for at least a million and a half years. They were made by earlier species of man, such as ''[[Homo erectus]]'' and ''[[Homo neanderthalensis]]'' (Neanderthal Man); it was one of their most important tools. The hand axe cultures were preceded by an even older [[Oldowan]] culture of primitive stone tools (2.6 to 1.7 million years ago) in [[Africa]].<ref>Callow P. 1994. The Olduvai bifaces: technology and raw materials. In M.D. Leakey & D.A. Roe (eds) ''Olduvai Gorge'' vol 5. Cambridge. p235-253. </ref><ref>Kuman K. 1996. The Oldowan Industry from Sterkfontein: raw materials and core forms. In: R. Soper & G. Pwiti (eds) ''Aspects of African Archaeology''. Papers from the 10th Congress of the Pan-African Association for Prehistory and Related Studies. Univ. of Zimb