Lanceolate hand axe

The bifacial flints from the Acheulean period were produced in Europe between 700 000 BC and 200 000 BC.
Acheulean tools were manufactured during the Lower Paleolithic era across Africa, West Asia, South Asia and Europe. The term “Acheulean” is derived of the French “Acheuléen”, as some of the first flints known were found in the small city of Saint-Acheul, in Picardy, in North of France.
Some tools of this period are bifacial and characterized by their oval and pear-shape. Used as “hand-axes” by Homo Erectus and close species of that time.
Their size, weight and elaborated shape suggest that they were produced as aesthetical objects of great value: social artefacts rather than functional tools.

Formerly in the Richardson collection, excavated at Maidenhead, Kent