Paleolithic Handaxes or Bifaces
Speaker: Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank
This video explores one of the most remarkable objects in human history: the Acheulean hand axe. Used for nearly 2 million years by hominins such as Homo erectus, Neanderthals, and our own Homo sapiens ancestors, these stone tools are the oldest continuously used technology on the planet and among the most beautiful. Is a prehistoric hand axe a tool or a work of art? The video considers how these Paleolithic objects were made, what they were used for, and why museums like The Metropolitan Museum of Art display them not as artifacts, but as sculpture.
Video chapters
0:00 Oldest used tool on the planet
0:31 Paleolithic handaxes
1:01 Acheulean Industry
1:43 Bifaces
2:24 Colors, materials, sizes
2:52 Are they art?
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Discover more about the prehistoric period.
