The Axe and the Man

By Charles Heavin

Excellent book covering a vast range of axes starting with the early stone hand axes of the paleolithic period. It began as a history of the evolution of the axe. Since the history of the axe is difficult to separate from the history of man, this study has become the history of early man’s stone and metal technology as exemplified by his axe. Technology is not only an important part of every culture, but it also usually affects such other aspect as the economic, political, social and religious. The degree of advancement of man’s technology is not only reflected directly in his tools and weapons themselves, but also in his means of agriculture, kinds of transportation, the sophistication of his buildings and the degree of his artistic development. These in turn can be directly affected by the degree of his tool development, which in many cases means his axe.