hand ax
noun
1
: a short-handled ax intended for use with one hand
2
: a prehistoric stone tool having one end pointed for cutting and the other end rounded for holding in the hand
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web The Neanderthal tools found at the site include a hand ax and small flint tools known as scrapers. 
Joshua Hawkins, BGR, 21 Dec. 2021 While making a hand ax basically involves improving an existing rock’s shape, making blades and points means the toolmaker must have begun by first visualizing the ideal shape of such a tool, then reworking the rock to serve that purpose. Brian Handwerk, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Oct. 2020 Olduvai Gorge is the only other bone hand ax dated to more than one million years ago. Alex Fox, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 July 2020 The last hand ax at the site dates to 499,000 years ago, before the gap. Ann Gibbons, Science | AAAS, 15 Mar. 2018 The authors found that for roughly 700,000 years, from 1.2 million to 499,000 years ago, the hominids who populated this basin relied almost entirely on one simple, all-purpose stone tool known as a hand ax. Deborah Netburn, latimes.com, 15 Mar. 2018 The hand axes do disclose evident aesthetic choices. Jason Farago, New York Times, 1 Feb. 2018 For example, the hand axes had been replaced by smaller, more sophisticated tools that could be attached to sticks and hurled through the air. Deborah Netburn, latimes.com, 15 Mar. 2018 About 900,000 years ago, a skull cap shows that the human ancestor H. erectus lived at Olorgesailie and used big Acheulean hand axes and scrapers to butcher meat. Ann Gibbons, Science | AAAS, 15 Mar. 2018 See More
Joshua Hawkins, BGR, 21 Dec. 2021 While making a hand ax basically involves improving an existing rock’s shape, making blades and points means the toolmaker must have begun by first visualizing the ideal shape of such a tool, then reworking the rock to serve that purpose. Brian Handwerk, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Oct. 2020 Olduvai Gorge is the only other bone hand ax dated to more than one million years ago. Alex Fox, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 July 2020 The last hand ax at the site dates to 499,000 years ago, before the gap. Ann Gibbons, Science | AAAS, 15 Mar. 2018 The authors found that for roughly 700,000 years, from 1.2 million to 499,000 years ago, the hominids who populated this basin relied almost entirely on one simple, all-purpose stone tool known as a hand ax. Deborah Netburn, latimes.com, 15 Mar. 2018 The hand axes do disclose evident aesthetic choices. Jason Farago, New York Times, 1 Feb. 2018 For example, the hand axes had been replaced by smaller, more sophisticated tools that could be attached to sticks and hurled through the air. Deborah Netburn, latimes.com, 15 Mar. 2018 About 900,000 years ago, a skull cap shows that the human ancestor H. erectus lived at Olorgesailie and used big Acheulean hand axes and scrapers to butcher meat. Ann Gibbons, Science | AAAS, 15 Mar. 2018 See More Word History
First Known Use
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1