WatersNS201
Lab #2: Tools- Hand in Hand
Tools have been in existence for upwards of 2.5 million years. Today, very few things would be possible without tools that are needed for the production of everyday items, such as bikes and televisions. While investigating skulls and tools in our second natural science lab, I discovered a hand-ax. It was an Acheulian industry artifact found in deposits at a site at St. Acheul, near Amiens. This hand-ax dates between 350,000 and 300,000 years old. According to Stanley H. Ambrose’s article, “Paleolithic Technology and Human Evolution,” a large cutting tool such as this hand-ax was thought to be used as an actual ax for large tasks such as butchery of large animals and woodworking. They may also have been used to throw at enemies or as a killing tool, but it is uncertain if it was used as anything more than a cutting tool. When examining the hand-ax, I held it in my hand and was able to feel the thumb print that was worn into it. I’m right handed and was able to hold it comfortably, so I believe it was used by a right handed person as well. I could not imagine someone using a tool this large to just cut something in a line, as was suggested in the article. It seems it would be used more for more modern-day ax uses, such as cutting trees and slaughtering a large mammal, like a ox.
Lab #2: Tools- Hand in Hand
Tools have been in existence for upwards of 2.5 million years. Today, very few things would be possible without tools that are needed for the production of everyday items, such as bikes and televisions. While investigating skulls and tools in our second natural science lab, I discovered a hand-ax. It was an Acheulian industry artifact found in deposits at a site at St. Acheul, near Amiens. This hand-ax dates between 350,000 and 300,000 years old. According to Stanley H. Ambrose’s article, “Paleolithic Technology and Human Evolution,” a large cutting tool such as this hand-ax was thought to be used as an actual ax for large tasks such as butchery of large animals and woodworking. They may also have been used to throw at enemies or as a killing tool, but it is uncertain if it was used as anything more than a cutting tool. When examining the hand-ax, I held it in my hand and was able to feel the thumb print that was worn into it. I’m right handed and was able to hold it comfortably, so I believe it was used by a right handed person as well. I could not imagine someone using a tool this large to just cut something in a line, as was suggested in the article. It seems it would be used more for more modern-day ax uses, such as cutting trees and slaughtering a large mammal, like a ox.