Close-up detail of the hand-axe like object in Jean Fouquet's "Étienne Chevalier with Saint Stephen," left panel of "The Melun Diptych" (circa 1455) by Jean Fouquet.Credit: Sailko, CC BY 3.0.
Posted on 10/22/2023 10:00:42 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
More than 500,000 years ago, our human ancestors used large, stone tools known as "Acheulean handaxes," to cut meat and wood, and dig for tubers. Often made from flint, these prehistoric oval and pear-shaped tools are flaked on both sides and have a pointed end.
Handaxes have long been a source of fascination in our social and cultural history. Prior to the Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries, people thought that they were of natural origin and referred to them as "thunderstones shot from the clouds," according to texts, with the earliest records dating back to the mid-1500s.
But researchers from Dartmouth and the University of Cambridge have identified that "The Melun Diptych" (circa 1455), painted by Jean Fouquet, depicts what is likely the earliest artistic representation of an Acheulean handaxe, demonstrating that these objects had an even earlier place in the modern world. The findings are published in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal...
The researchers found that an Acheulean handaxe appears to have been represented in the left panel... The stone object symbolizes the death by stoning of Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr.
Fouquet is considered one of the most important French artists prior to the Renaissance given his ability to work with oil paint.
Art historians have always referred to the stone in "The Melun Diptych" as a "jagged stone" or a "large, sharp stone," but no one had ever identified it as something human made. However, Steven Kangas, a senior lecturer in the Department of Art History at Dartmouth and study co-author, had a hunch that it wasn't just a rock.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
Close-up detail of the hand-axe like object in Jean Fouquet's "Étienne Chevalier with Saint Stephen," left panel of "The Melun Diptych" (circa 1455) by Jean Fouquet.Credit: Sailko, CC BY 3.0.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_axe
The first published picture of a hand axe, drawn by John Frere in the year 1800.
update needed here then.
Handaxes are generally thought to have been primarily used as cutting tools,[1][4] with the wide base serving as an ergonomic area for the hand to grip the tool,[5] though other uses, such as throwing weapons and use as social and sexual signaling have been proposed.[1]
Avoid getting whacked by one.
The Lions Gate in the Old City of
Jerusalem where Stephen was stoned with
Paul watching is a sobering spot.
Kohn and Mithen independently arrived at the explanation that symmetric hand axes were favoured by sexual selection as fitness indicators.[25] Kohn in his book As We Know It wrote that the hand axe is “a highly visible indicator of fitness, and so becomes a criterion of mate choice.”[26] Miller followed their example and said that hand axes have characteristics that make them subject to sexual selection, such as that they were made for over a million years throughout Africa, Europe and Asia, they were made in large numbers, and most were impractical for utilitarian use. He claimed that a single design persisting across time and space cannot be explained by cultural imitation and draws a parallel between bowerbirds’ bowers (built to attract potential mates and used only during courtship) and Pleistocene hominids’ hand axes. He called hand axe building a “genetically inherited propensity to construct a certain type of object.” He discards the idea that they were used as missile weapons because more efficient weapons were available, such as javelins. Although he accepted that some hand axes may have been used for practical purposes, he agreed with Kohn and Mithen who showed that many hand axes show considerable skill, design and symmetry beyond that needed for utility. Some were too big, such as the Maritime Academy handaxe[27] or the “Great Hand Axe” found in Furze Platt, England that is 30.6 cm long[28](other scholars measure it as 39.5 cm long).[29] Some were too small - less than two inches. Some were “overdetermined”,[30] featuring symmetry beyond practical requirements and showing evidence of unnecessary attention to form and finish. Some were actually made out bone instead of stone and thus were not very practical, suggesting a cultural or ritual use.[31] Miller thinks that the most important clue is that under electron microscopy hand axes show no signs of use or evidence of edge wear. Others argue that little evidence for use-wear simply relates to the particular sedimentological conditions, rather than being evidence of discarding without use.[32] It has been noted that hand axes can be good handicaps in Zahavi’s handicap principle theory: learning costs are high, risks of injury, they require physical strength, hand-eye coordination, planning, patience, pain tolerance and resistance to infection from cuts and bruises when making or using such a hand axe.[33]
We used to wear these to show our manhood.
Wikipedia *now* says “the first published representation of a hand axe was drawn by John Frere and appeared in a British publication in 1800.”
He died in 1807.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Frere
Measuring 300,00 years old Ice Age handaxes w/ calipers.
lmao
Nobody ever chopped anything before 1800.
So what did they think at the time of the meaning of the painting? Why would there be a rock on top of the book as if it is a sacred object? What did they think it was?
Good question. It looks more like a precious stone as a giant abalone might be regarded.
Whacked as in hit with it? Or whacked as in you made Tony Soprano mad at you?
Cool !
A holster is required for;
.
‘A Big Iron on His Hip!’
That makes sense.
#10 They look like Harbor Freight hand tools....
“#10 They look like Harbor Freight hand tools....”
Hey guys Ogg is opening up a Harbor Freight store in the cave across the valley. I hear he has great deals on hand axes. However they are the use once and then throw away kind. I’m told they are good enough to impress the girls.
Nice lookin’ work!
I have been looking for American Indian Native stone artifacts sin Michigan since I was six. Now late 50s. Fascinating hobby and free except for your priceless time out looking and good exercise to boot. I have over a hundred different arrowheads, spearheads, scrapers, celts, and a large handaxe, plus many pottery fragments from local clay deposits. I consider my self an amateur archeologist; an Indianapolis Jones wannabe.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
