In order to analyze the changes in technology through human development, scholars have divided human prehistory and history into technology periods. Danish archaeologist Christian Jurgensen Thomsen first used the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages terminology in the 1820s, but it was quickly picked up by other scholars because it divided humanity's technological achievements into manageable periods. These technology periods are correlated with time periods in certain areas; some cultures today may be termed "Stone Age" if they choose to use stone tools instead of metal or plastic implements.
When chipping and flaking reduction methods were used, flint and obsidian were the primary materials utilized. Other axes were made by pecking and grinding basalt.
Chipping, flaking, pecking, and grinding are the major reduction technologies to create stone axes. The earliest axes were hand axes (with no shaft, held in the hand) that were manufactured by removing a few flakes on two sides of a hand-sized pebble. Each side had further, smaller flakes removed so the tool became sharper and pear-shaped.
The earliest hand axe is from the Acheulean period, also known as the lower Paleolithic period. It is first found in Central Africa and later in Europe and Northern and Eastern Asia.
As time went on these axes were made more skillfully with the stone axe being flaked all around the edges first in one direction and then in the other so that they became two-faced lumps. It is thought that this technology developed in Central Africa and spread to areas of Europe and Asia. These early axes were made primarily from flint. During the second ice age in Europe, hand axes seemed to disappear but, reappeared after what it known as the Acheullan period. This period of early axes is distinguished by pointed almond shaped axes with straight edges and shallow flake scars on the sides, which were finished by flaking with some sort of percussion tool. These early hand axes were sort of an all purpose tool. They don’t resemble what we think of as a modern axe, but it was a highly useful tool, that in addition to normal axe-like purposes, was also used as a hide scrapping instrument and also as a hunting tool for stabbing and skinning game, which were important parts of early human life.
Schick, Kathy D. & Toth, Nicholas. Making Silent Stones Speak Human Evolution and The Dawn of Technology. Simon & Shuster, New York. 1993.
Oakley, Kenneth P. Man the Tool-Maker. Phoenix Books, The University of Chicago Press, 1941.
Swanson, Earl. Lithic Technology, making and using stone tools. Mounton Publishers. Paris, 1975.