A study published Thursday revealed the initial results of an excavation site in Britain where a series of enormous prehistoric hand axes were uncovered earlier in 2023.
The hand axes were uncovered at Maritime Academy, Frindsbury, within the Medway Valley, at least two of which were classified as “giant” by the research team, according to the study published in Internet Archaeology. Though the discovery’s implications are unknown, they’re being regarded as “culturally significant” to the British Palaeolithic era and the understanding of human settlements some 300,000 years ago or more.
“These handaxes are so big that it’s difficult to imagine how they could have been easily held and used. Perhaps they fulfilled a less practical or more symbolic function than other tools, a clear demonstration of strength and skill,” one of the study co-authors, Letty Ingrey, told Heritage Daily.
The findings have been published today in Internet Archaeology @IntarchEditor
Read the open access paper and see our data: https://t.co/NKlovolFlc
View a 3D model of the handaxe: https://t.co/P4wt6dqJyT#MaritimeGiantHandaxe
— UCL Archaeology South-East (@ArchSouthEast) July 6, 2023
Some 800 stone artifacts were found at the site. The current age estimation suggests they were created when Neanderthals were emerging in the region, along with other types of early human species, the outlet noted. (RELATED: Netflix Documentary Could Rewrite All Of Human History)
The lack of fossil evidence of the hand axe’s owners is apparently a hindrance to the research, Ingrey told Newsweek. As a result, the true creators and owners of the tools are currently unknown. But given the size and time period, it was suggested that they were used for cutting up animals, including the straight-tusked elephants that once roamed the British archipelago.