lithic
Demonstration of twisted handaxe model with commentry -suggestions of possible use of Palaeolithic ovate and cordate biface handaxes
The use of handaxes as “Pole-Axes” and their relationship to twisted Ovate/ Cordate bifaces
Handaxes could well have been used much as pole-axes have been used in recent years in abattoirs (*see below). Pole-axes were used up until the middle of the last century and as we will see were almost certainly correctly outlawed due to animal welfare reasons.
The reasoning behind the argument that Handaxes were used for a similar purpose is based on the assumption that a hunter in the Palaeolithic period or within any primitive culture, would wish to fell a trapped or wounded animal as quickly as possible, for safety reasons alone if nothing else. A pole-axe type implement would achieve this. A poor creature on the receiving end of a pole-axe, drops dead as if shot. A large and robust animal could be very dangerous if wounded and may have put up quite a fight. Contact with animals during hunting in Palaeolithic times would have presumably been at close quarters due to the lack of the bow and arrow, which was not invented at this stage.
Handaxes have a shape that could well have been compatible for use as a pole-axe having a streamlined, flat profile much like a modern axe head but with a rounded or pointed end. The effort involved in finding appropriate material and producing a handaxe would only have been warranted if a very specialist tool was required for a specific purpose, such as a pole-axe.
Considering this theory we would be wise to look at the varied forms of Handaxe to see if they help to support this idea. One example of very a specific form of Handaxe is the Ovate and Cordate twisted Handaxes of the middle-late Acheulean period.
Twisted Ovate and Cordate Handaxes have a very particular pattern. They often have a symmetrical and rounded butt and a twisted shape if viewed from the side. This is usually in the form of a backward S or question mark (?) shape.
Let us assume that in order to use these objects like a Pole-axe they would need to be hafted much like a hatchet. The handaxe itself been gripped between a jaw arrangement.
With Pole-axes in abattoirs a second attempt was sometimes required to complete the task (not a particularly pleasant thought and presumably why they were outlawed). For Palaeolithic man using a hafted Handaxe such an attempt would have been very awkward and dangerous. If, however in the case of our twisted Handaxe the haft of the implement is twisted a quarter turn in a clockwise direction (the axe head being the pivot and the haft acting like the second hand of a clock) the axe head would tend to move downwards twisting as it went. This would be possible in the same way as a coin twisted between a clenched finger and thumb will tend to ride out of our grip if held tightly at the edge. The semicircular base of our Handaxe would move against the underside of the skull, the curved shape taking it deeper. This together with the action of the twist itself would presumably stun the animal immediately.
In addition to the semicircular curve these twisted axes have a Propeller shape (a reverse “S” appearance) which is more pronounced at the butt end. This would have further aided the twisting action but in a clockwise direction only. This shape would have allowed the axe to start twisting downwards at a shallower depth than would have been possible without the propeller shape.
The blade end of the axe head sometimes has an opposite twist. This would give a maximum cutting action in the same way as a wood drill bit. In some cases this opposite twist could have allowed a shallowly embedded implement to be twisted out in an anticlockwise direction.
Interestingly this is the same action of a modern screw thread. Clockwise being to “screw-in” and anticlockwise to “un-do”. Presumably in stress of the hunt it would have been important to standardise which way to twist!
Presumably the surface area of the Ovate or Cordate handaxe would be preferable over the pointed handaxe. But it has been suggested materials may have not have always allowed for the production of the more complex Ovate and Cordate tool. (see reference to White.M.J).
Practical research would be needed (Not using live animals obviously) to verify some of the more practical aspects of the above.
*Pole-Axe: butchers implement for slaughtering cattle (Oxford Senior Dictionary)
Demonstration of twisted handaxe model with commentry -suggestions of possible use of Palaeolithic ovate and cordate biface handaxes
The use of handaxes as “Pole-Axes” and their relationship to twisted Ovate/ Cordate bifaces
Handaxes could well have been used much as pole-axes have been used in recent years in abattoirs (*see below). Pole-axes were used up until the middle of the last century and as we will see were almost certainly correctly outlawed due to animal welfare reasons.
The reasoning behind the argument that Handaxes were used for a similar purpose is based on the assumption that a hunter in the Palaeolithic period or within any primitive culture, would wish to fell a trapped or wounded animal as quickly as possible, for safety reasons alone if nothing else. A pole-axe type implement would achieve this. A poor creature on the receiving end of a pole-axe, drops dead as if shot. A large and robust animal could be very dangerous if wounded and may have put up quite a fight. Contact with animals during hunting in Palaeolithic times would have presumably been at close quarters due to the lack of the bow and arrow, which was not invented at this stage.
Handaxes have a shape that could well have been compatible for use as a pole-axe having a streamlined, flat profile much like a modern axe head but with a rounded or pointed end. The effort involved in finding appropriate material and producing a handaxe would only have been warranted if a very specialist tool was required for a specific purpose, such as a pole-axe.
Considering this theory we would be wise to look at the varied forms of Handaxe to see if they help to support this idea. One example of very a specific form of Handaxe is the Ovate and Cordate twisted Handaxes of the middle-late Acheulean period.
Twisted Ovate and Cordate Handaxes have a very particular pattern. They often have a symmetrical and rounded butt and a twisted shape if viewed from the side. This is usually in the form of a backward S or question mark (?) shape.
Let us assume that in order to use these objects like a Pole-axe they would need to be hafted much like a hatchet. The handaxe itself been gripped between a jaw arrangement.
With Pole-axes in abattoirs a second attempt was sometimes required to complete the task (not a particularly pleasant thought and presumably why they were outlawed). For Palaeolithic man using a hafted Handaxe such an attempt would have been very awkward and dangerous. If, however in the case of our twisted Handaxe the haft of the implement is twisted a quarter turn in a clockwise direction (the axe head being the pivot and the haft acting like the second hand of a clock) the axe head would tend to move downwards twisting as it went. This would be possible in the same way as a coin twisted between a clenched finger and thumb will tend to ride out of our grip if held tightly at the edge. The semicircular base of our Handaxe would move against the underside of the skull, the curved shape taking it deeper. This together with the action of the twist itself would presumably stun the animal immediately.
In addition to the semicircular curve these twisted axes have a Propeller shape (a reverse “S” appearance) which is more pronounced at the butt end. This would have further aided the twisting action but in a clockwise direction only. This shape would have allowed the axe to start twisting downwards at a shallower depth than would have been possible without the propeller shape.
The blade end of the axe head sometimes has an opposite twist. This would give a maximum cutting action in the same way as a wood drill bit. In some cases this opposite twist could have allowed a shallowly embedded implement to be twisted out in an anticlockwise direction.
Interestingly this is the same action of a modern screw thread. Clockwise being to “screw-in” and anticlockwise to “un-do”. Presumably in stress of the hunt it would have been important to standardise which way to twist!
Presumably the surface area of the Ovate or Cordate handaxe would be preferable over the pointed handaxe. But it has been suggested materials may have not have always allowed for the production of the more complex Ovate and Cordate tool. (see reference to White.M.J).
Practical research would be needed (Not using live animals obviously) to verify some of the more practical aspects of the above.
*Pole-Axe: butchers implement for slaughtering cattle (Oxford Senior Dictionary)