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Why are Acheulean hand axes called bifacial tools?
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Paleolithic Period
The Venus of Willendorf, a Upper Paleolithic limestone figurine originally colored with red ochre, 30,000–25,000 bce, found at Willendorf, Lower Austria; in the Natural History Museum, Vienna.
Acheulean hand axes are classified as bifacial tools because they are manufactured by removing stone flakes from both sides of a core.1
This method of production distinguishes them from unifacial tools, which are shaped by a single bevel on one side. In the early stages of the Acheulean industry, these tools were often crude and pointed, created by striking a core against an anvil stone to produce a sinuous cutting edge around the entire implement. As toolmaking techniques evolved, the use of hammerstones—and later bone or wood hammers—allowed for more precise flaking across both surfaces, resulting in thinner, more symmetrical, and efficient tools.213