Hand ax blade
A hand ax blade is a relatively flat, double-faced stone device that is similar to the hand ax, but is flatter in comparison. They were made by the Neanderthals during the Micoquian period .
The typological differentiation from the classic hand ax goes back to Father Hugo Obermaier , who found these devices during excavations in the Upper Bavarian Altmühltal . This location suggests a possible explanation for this flat-shaped hand ax variant. In the limestone deposits there, which were sedimented during the Jura (e.g. the Solnhofen limestone ), there are silicate horizons of a few centimeters thick. This material is called slab hornstone. Many of the hand ax blades found are made from this slab horn stone. Possibly the makers of the hand ax blades tried to make hand axes with the local material. The Plattenhornstein, however, was not powerful enough for the end product to match our current definition of a hand ax.
The shapes vary between large, wide, elongated and narrow hand ax blades. There are also small, broad triangular shapes. Hand ax blades resemble the tips of the Upper Paleolithic . In contrast to these, the proximal end is not pointed, but has been left thick.
literature
- Gerhard Bosinski : The Middle Paleolithic finds in western Central Europe. Fundamenta A / 4. Cologne, Graz 1937.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ernst Probst : Germany in the Stone Age. Munich 1991. ISBN 3-570-02669-8 . P. 38.