Most Anthropolgist think Homo sapiens originated around 100,000 years ago in Africa. They guestimate its appearance in Europe about 40,000 years ago.
At 500,000 years ago your probably looking at an Homo antecessor or Homo heidelbergensis, predecessors of Homo neanderthalensis or H. sapiens neanderthalensis, depending on the authority.
The dispute about the timeline has much more to do with where to draw the lines between species as opposed to who was where when. Homo heidelbergensis is sometimes classified as homo sapiens heidelbergensis or more often as Homo Sapiens (archaic) as opposed to Homo Sapiens Sapiens (Modern). If heidelbergensis is a seperate species, then 120k years ago is the start of homo sapiens. If heidelbergensis is a part of homo sapiens, 500k. Either way, me thinks this axe dating is off by a zero.