A ficron handaxe is the name given to a type of prehistoric stone tool biface with long, curved sides and a pointed, well-made tip. They are found in Lower Palaeolithic,[ "Handaxe." Portable Antiquities Scheme. Updated 5/24/13. Accessed 11/15/13.] Middle Palaeolithic and Acheulean contexts, and are some of the oldest tools ever created by humans.[Darvill, T (ed.) (2003). Oxford Concise Dictionary of Archaeology, Oxford: Oxford University Press. .]
Production process
Like other types of handaxes, ficrons are created through a process called
flint-knapping or
lithic reduction. This involves a process of percussing the stone with a hard hammer such as a stone, a soft hammer such as a bone or antler, and pressure flaking using a punch made of bone or antler.
Distribution
Africa
Acheulean tools such as ficrons can be found in the
rift valley of
Kenya,
and sites such as Gona and
Bouri Formation in
Ethiopia, where early humans and others evolved. As these groups found their way out of
Africa, the tools went with them.
Great Britain
However,
Great Britain has also yielded its share of ficrons, found in gravel pits and fluvial deposits.
Swanscombe Heritage Park is famous for its many archaeological discoveries, including ficrons. Because Britain was often covered in ice during the Paleolithic Age, it was only inhabitable between glacial periods. As glaciers melted, tools were swept into gravels where they are discovered today.
[ Richard Milton. "Palaeolithic Stone Tools." Museum of the stone Age. Updated 6/28/13. Accessed 11/15/13.]
