Archaeologists in England have discovered a 300,000-year-old giant hand axe, which has left them puzzled. The Acheulian technology was used by Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis, and Neanderthals for hundreds of thousands of years. The multi-purpose tools were typically made from flint and had a shape and size that fit comfortably in the hand. However, researchers from University College London (UCL) have found numerous 300,000-year-old artifacts, including mysterious giant hand axes, during excavations in the Medway Valley. The team describes these tools as giant hand axes if they are longer than 22 centimeters, and they found two of them in this size, with the larger one being a colossal 29.5 centimeters long, one of the largest ever discovered in the UK.
According to the publication in the specialist magazine Internet Archaeology, archaeologists have only discovered two larger hand axes worldwide. The monumental hand axe found in Medway has a remarkably thick handle and an elongated, narrow tip. The top of the tip must have been extremely sharp immediately after production. The enormous dimensions of these giant hand axes have left archaeologists puzzled. It remains an open question whether early humans could use these tools in a similar way to the more manageable, one-handed stone knives. Alternatively, it is possible that these massive hand axes were used in a special way, such as being positioned on the ground and the material to be worked along their edge, rather than the other way around.
The researchers suggest that these giant hand axes may have had a symbolic function, demonstrating strength or skill. They also remain puzzled as to why such large stone tools were produced and which species of early humans they can be attributed to. They could be from the early phase of Neanderthal settlement in the UK, or they could have been left behind by another type of early human, such as Homo heidelbergensis. The researchers are still trying to unravel the mystery of these giant hand axes.
