Hand Axes at Lewa
For several decades, prehistoric archaeologists have known of a dense concentration of stone hand-axes made by early humans on Lewa. The hand-axes are all made of lava volcanic rock, and are strikingly similar to abundant Acheulean hand-axes, dated approximately 800,000 to 1 million years old.
The Lewa Hand-axe Site appears to represent an excellent example of Acheulean stone flaking, the longest-lived form of early human technology. The Early Stone Age technology was produced by hominids over a period of at least 1.3 million years, and distributed over parts of Africa, Asia and Europe.
The Lewa Hand axe Site may represent one of the largest areas of concentrated Acheulean hand axes in the world
The hand axes average 5–6 inches (12, 5–15 cm) long and 1–2 inches (2, 5–5 cm) thick and are usually teardrop and symmetrical in shape.
Early hominids had a range of uses for these hand axes. In fact, they have been called the Swiss Army Knives of prehistory. Their uses included:
- Cutting, scraping, chopping, hacking, and digging.
- Dismembering and cutting meat from medium- to large-sized animals.
- Digging and obtaining plants, and burrowing for water.
- Stripping bark to feed on the cambium layer of trees.
Lewa has educated a guide, Johnson Ngila, who will take visitors to the site and educate people about the hand-axes and the people who used them. |
