Homo erectus, now extinct, was a large-brained hominid that originated in Africa approximately 1.8 million years ago. Homo erectus dispersed widely, leaving fossils in Europe, China, Indonesia and Vietnam. It is possible that the use of tools was a critical innovation that allowed the species to be successful in such a range of habitats. Homo erectus likely used Acheulean hand axes as a multipurpose tool for butchering carcasses, digging roots, chopping wood and other similar uses. Homo erectus had significantly larger cranial capacity than homo habilis, another tool-using hominid, with brain size approaching modern humans. Most mainstream anthropologists consider that homo erectus died out approximately 300,000 years ago, although some argue for a much later date.
Oldowan tools, the first hominid stone tool technology, were most likely developed by homo habilis in Africa, and were the precursor to Acheulean tools. The first Oldowan tool was found in Ethiopia, dating to approximately 2.6 million years ago. Oldowan tools were sharp flakes that were taken from a round rock core, used for chopping, scraping, and cutting. Homo erectus adopted Oldowan technology, dispersing it throughout Europe and Asia, and often using it alongside Acheulean tools.
While Oldowan tools were primarily the flakes struck from round cores, the typical Acheulean tool was a large hand axe. Hand axes tend to be teardrop or pear-shaped, with sharp, pointed symmetrical cutting edges. Acheulean hand axes have been found throughout Africa, Europe and Asia, and more prevalently than the much smaller Oldowon tools. Appearing more than a million years after the first Oldowon tools, Acheulean tools required breaking a much larger flake from a boulder.
Anthropologists recognize three stages of Acheulean tool making, referred to as Modes 1, 2 and 3, with hand axes becoming thinner and more symmetrical over time. Large flakes were struck from boulders with a hammer stone. While in Mode 1, the axe continued to be retouched by hammering, Mode 2 tools were worked with bone, antler or wood, providing a more refined appearance. Mode 3 tools used the Levallois technique, a system of flaking from a stone core that continued to be used in subsequent toolmaking technologies, such as the Mousterian. Mousterian tools were developed by Neanderthal Man approximately 100,000 years ago, and included a wider variety of stone flaked tools, including more sophisticated hand axes, knives, spear points, and small cutters and scrapers.