Lewa Hand axes
Stone Tool: Cleaver
Short Name: GpJn1.4
Period: Early Pleistocene
Culture/Industry: Acheulean
Localization: Meru District, LewaDowns Estate
Collection Date: 1981
Collector: Simiyu Wandibba
Provenance: Surface Collection
Material Culture: Lithic
Site Name: Lewa swamp
Catalogue: # KNM-2343-1
1.76 million to 130 thousand years ago
Material Culture
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Description Summary
The unique Large Cutting Tools: Hand axes and cleavers indicate that, they were made from the most available and more abundant raw materials to the makers. The refined Acheulean tool kit were used in cutting and sharing of meat respectively. The hand axe was an all purpose tool. Beside skinning animals, tool would be applied in digging for tuber plants.
Early Pleistocene
Compared to previous periods, the climate of eastern Africa was generally colder, but more importantly, it was variable. There were significant swings between warm and wet and cold and dry. Similarly, the landscape frequently changed from forested to grassy. Animal life was in great flux with successions of organisms suited to survive in those environments. Hominids and their hominin descendants grew increasingly dependent on tools to survive the changing environments.