I just had a thought about how many cool fossils were probably destroyed by early humans going “ohhh rock, rock for tool” and then I remembered the West Tofts handaxe exists and we’ve just always been making weird art I love it.
digventures.com/2020/06/amaz...
digventures.com/2020/06/amaz...
September 26, 2026 at 2:51 AM
I just had a thought about how many cool fossils were probably destroyed by early humans going “ohhh rock, rock for tool” and then I remembered the West Tofts handaxe exists and we’ve just always been making weird art I love it.
digventures.com/2020/06/amaz...
digventures.com/2020/06/amaz...
Something beautiful for the weekend!
An extraordinary Acheulean handaxe knapped around a fossil shell c. 500,000-300,000 years ago!
From West Tofts, Norfolk
📷 MAA Cambridge University collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/4509...
#Archaeology
An extraordinary Acheulean handaxe knapped around a fossil shell c. 500,000-300,000 years ago!
From West Tofts, Norfolk
📷 MAA Cambridge University collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/4509...
#Archaeology
July 4, 2026 at 2:02 PM
Something beautiful for the weekend!
An extraordinary Acheulean handaxe knapped around a fossil shell c. 500,000-300,000 years ago!
From West Tofts, Norfolk
📷 MAA Cambridge University collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/4509...
#Archaeology
An extraordinary Acheulean handaxe knapped around a fossil shell c. 500,000-300,000 years ago!
From West Tofts, Norfolk
📷 MAA Cambridge University collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/4509...
#Archaeology
🪨Giant mystery: a Palaeolithic giant handaxe from Wirral. Read more 👀📖➡️ prehistoricwirral.com/giant-handax...
#Archaeology #Palaeolithic #Prehistory #Lithics #Gianthandaxe #Wirral
#Archaeology #Palaeolithic #Prehistory #Lithics #Gianthandaxe #Wirral
January 11, 2026 at 11:10 AM
🪨Giant mystery: a Palaeolithic giant handaxe from Wirral. Read more 👀📖➡️ prehistoricwirral.com/giant-handax...
#Archaeology #Palaeolithic #Prehistory #Lithics #Gianthandaxe #Wirral
#Archaeology #Palaeolithic #Prehistory #Lithics #Gianthandaxe #Wirral
Great fun at #ESHE2025 presenting on how handaxe shape can inform discussions of African demography in the Early and Middle Pleistocene! While we have very few fossils or genetic data for this period, handaxe shape may carry a signal that can help to constrain biogeographic models - more to come!
September 26, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Great fun at #ESHE2025 presenting on how handaxe shape can inform discussions of African demography in the Early and Middle Pleistocene! While we have very few fossils or genetic data for this period, handaxe shape may carry a signal that can help to constrain biogeographic models - more to come!
Something beautiful for the weekend!
An extraordinary Acheulean handaxe knapped around a fossil shell c. 500,000-300,000 years ago!
The shell’s central display has been described as an example of aesthetic intention by the toolmaker.
West Tofts, Norfolk. 📷 MAA Cambridge University
#Archaeology
An extraordinary Acheulean handaxe knapped around a fossil shell c. 500,000-300,000 years ago!
The shell’s central display has been described as an example of aesthetic intention by the toolmaker.
West Tofts, Norfolk. 📷 MAA Cambridge University
#Archaeology
September 13, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Something beautiful for the weekend!
An extraordinary Acheulean handaxe knapped around a fossil shell c. 500,000-300,000 years ago!
The shell’s central display has been described as an example of aesthetic intention by the toolmaker.
West Tofts, Norfolk. 📷 MAA Cambridge University
#Archaeology
An extraordinary Acheulean handaxe knapped around a fossil shell c. 500,000-300,000 years ago!
The shell’s central display has been described as an example of aesthetic intention by the toolmaker.
West Tofts, Norfolk. 📷 MAA Cambridge University
#Archaeology
I'm off - state holiday. Let's do this.
I'm serious - I have a hard time thinking of a metric where the stone handaxe wouldn't be the greatest invention in history.
I'm serious - I have a hard time thinking of a metric where the stone handaxe wouldn't be the greatest invention in history.
March 26, 2026 at 7:33 PM
I'm off - state holiday. Let's do this.
I'm serious - I have a hard time thinking of a metric where the stone handaxe wouldn't be the greatest invention in history.
I'm serious - I have a hard time thinking of a metric where the stone handaxe wouldn't be the greatest invention in history.
Mahogany obsidian handaxe 🏺 #archaeology #flintknapping
December 4, 2024 at 7:57 PM
Mahogany obsidian handaxe 🏺 #archaeology #flintknapping
‘The West Tofts handaxe is a small British Acheulean biface well known for its cortical preservation of a fossilised bivalve shell’
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
May 25, 2025 at 7:22 AM
‘The West Tofts handaxe is a small British Acheulean biface well known for its cortical preservation of a fossilised bivalve shell’
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Man finds prehistoric handaxe on his tea break. 🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Suffolk man found prehistoric handaxe on tea break at Sizewell C
Colin Cooley kicks his feet and finds a rare discovery dating back more than 36,000 years.
www.bbc.co.uk
August 9, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Man finds prehistoric handaxe on his tea break. 🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Well, it’s finally happened, one for the bucket list.
This week I found a flint handaxe at Happisburgh while walking with friends. Their shared concern was due to my delighted dancing looking like I was having a funny turn!
This week I found a flint handaxe at Happisburgh while walking with friends. Their shared concern was due to my delighted dancing looking like I was having a funny turn!
December 13, 2024 at 6:38 PM
Well, it’s finally happened, one for the bucket list.
This week I found a flint handaxe at Happisburgh while walking with friends. Their shared concern was due to my delighted dancing looking like I was having a funny turn!
This week I found a flint handaxe at Happisburgh while walking with friends. Their shared concern was due to my delighted dancing looking like I was having a funny turn!
Keokuk chert handaxe 🏺
November 18, 2024 at 8:35 PM
Keokuk chert handaxe 🏺
Explore a >300,000 year old wonder.
Dr Sarah Duffy's scan of the Maritime Academy Giant Handaxe published in @lettyingrey.bsky.social et al 2023 intarch.ac.uk/journal/issu...
sketchfab.com/3d-models/ma...
@uclarchaeology.bsky.social #PaPa 🦣🏺
Dr Sarah Duffy's scan of the Maritime Academy Giant Handaxe published in @lettyingrey.bsky.social et al 2023 intarch.ac.uk/journal/issu...
sketchfab.com/3d-models/ma...
@uclarchaeology.bsky.social #PaPa 🦣🏺
Maritime Academy Giant Handaxe - 3D model by sarahMduffy.uk
Please enjoy exploring this digital model of the giant handaxe discovered during archaeological excavations carried out by Archaeology South-East, part of the UCL Institute of Archaeology ahead of con...
sketchfab.com
January 29, 2026 at 6:22 PM
Explore a >300,000 year old wonder.
Dr Sarah Duffy's scan of the Maritime Academy Giant Handaxe published in @lettyingrey.bsky.social et al 2023 intarch.ac.uk/journal/issu...
sketchfab.com/3d-models/ma...
@uclarchaeology.bsky.social #PaPa 🦣🏺
Dr Sarah Duffy's scan of the Maritime Academy Giant Handaxe published in @lettyingrey.bsky.social et al 2023 intarch.ac.uk/journal/issu...
sketchfab.com/3d-models/ma...
@uclarchaeology.bsky.social #PaPa 🦣🏺
Handaxe discovered at the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, 1.2-1.4 million years old.
From The British Museum
From The British Museum
March 26, 2025 at 9:08 AM
Handaxe discovered at the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, 1.2-1.4 million years old.
From The British Museum
From The British Museum
The exquisitely beautiful Happisburgh handaxe. A utilitarian tool worked from glossy black flint half a million years ago!
Found in 2000 by a man walking his dog on a Norfolk beach.
📷 Norwich Castle Museum www.museumscollections.norfolk.gov.uk/collections-...
#Archaeology
Found in 2000 by a man walking his dog on a Norfolk beach.
📷 Norwich Castle Museum www.museumscollections.norfolk.gov.uk/collections-...
#Archaeology
January 6, 2025 at 11:34 AM
The exquisitely beautiful Happisburgh handaxe. A utilitarian tool worked from glossy black flint half a million years ago!
Found in 2000 by a man walking his dog on a Norfolk beach.
📷 Norwich Castle Museum www.museumscollections.norfolk.gov.uk/collections-...
#Archaeology
Found in 2000 by a man walking his dog on a Norfolk beach.
📷 Norwich Castle Museum www.museumscollections.norfolk.gov.uk/collections-...
#Archaeology
This Lower Palaeolithic pointed handaxe from Hoxne, Suffolk, is an example of a part of the Society’s collection which symbolises crucial changes in our understanding of the world and what we can learn from the antiquity of the earth.
May 17, 2025 at 9:00 AM
This Lower Palaeolithic pointed handaxe from Hoxne, Suffolk, is an example of a part of the Society’s collection which symbolises crucial changes in our understanding of the world and what we can learn from the antiquity of the earth.
A cool birthday present from my son. He's studying archeology & he made this handaxe in his Lithics lab class.
July 5, 2025 at 11:48 AM
A cool birthday present from my son. He's studying archeology & he made this handaxe in his Lithics lab class.
Acheulean handaxe again eh
September 26, 2026 at 5:49 AM
Acheulean handaxe again eh
Illustrating flint tools isn’t just about recording their shape—it helps capture the subtleties of flake scars, texture & wear that can reveal how they were made and used. This drawing shows last week’s #FindsFriday Palaeolithic handaxe.
#Archaeology #Prehistory #FindsIllustration #FlintFriday
#Archaeology #Prehistory #FindsIllustration #FlintFriday
February 7, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Illustrating flint tools isn’t just about recording their shape—it helps capture the subtleties of flake scars, texture & wear that can reveal how they were made and used. This drawing shows last week’s #FindsFriday Palaeolithic handaxe.
#Archaeology #Prehistory #FindsIllustration #FlintFriday
#Archaeology #Prehistory #FindsIllustration #FlintFriday
La Trobe University Archaeology student Sarah with her first handaxe from Amanzi Springs Area 1, in layers we now believe to be older than 400,000 years.
November 24, 2024 at 2:34 PM
La Trobe University Archaeology student Sarah with her first handaxe from Amanzi Springs Area 1, in layers we now believe to be older than 400,000 years.
The delicate excavation of a scatter of flint waste flakes from the manufacture of a handaxe. It was left behind 480,000 years ago, maybe by early Neanderthal people. The scatter preserves the shadow of their knees. Boxgrove, UK 🏺 #FlintFriday
November 22, 2024 at 7:54 AM
The delicate excavation of a scatter of flint waste flakes from the manufacture of a handaxe. It was left behind 480,000 years ago, maybe by early Neanderthal people. The scatter preserves the shadow of their knees. Boxgrove, UK 🏺 #FlintFriday
preassuring his handaxe until it flakes......
April 12, 2026 at 4:38 PM
preassuring his handaxe until it flakes......
Had to set up a work meeting today about some flint hand axes (don’t ask) - so obviously I’ve called it Handaxe Half Hour
June 15, 2026 at 10:22 AM
Had to set up a work meeting today about some flint hand axes (don’t ask) - so obviously I’ve called it Handaxe Half Hour
An oldie but goodie. The #cappuccino handaxe, Saudi Arabia
December 21, 2024 at 12:19 AM
An oldie but goodie. The #cappuccino handaxe, Saudi Arabia