A tranchet axe is a lithic tool made by removing a flake, known as a tranchet flake. The flake is removed parallel to the final intended cutting edge of the tool which creates a single straight and sharp cutting edge as wide as the tool itself. The blade can be easily resharpened by detaching a new tranchet flake.This stone working technique represents an important step in the evolution of

lithic technology In archaeology, lithic technology includes a broad array of techniques used to produce usable tools from various types of stone. The earliest stone tools to date have been found at the site of Lomekwi 3 (LOM3) in Kenya and they have been dated to ...

, as it bridged the gap between the more rudimentary

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...

tools and the relatively polished tools of the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

. At certain European excavation sites, the discovery of tranchet axeheads is regarded as an early

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Ancient Greek language, Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic i ...

marker. Archeologists have unearthed these axes from various time periods in excavation sites on many continents. They have been found in some

Acheulean Acheulean (; also Acheulian and Mode II), from the French after the type site of Saint-Acheul, is an archaeological industry of stone tool manufacture characterized by the distinctive oval and pear-shaped "hand axes" associated with ''Homo ...

assemblages as well as in

flaked stone industries. Archeologists have also excavated tranchet axes from Central American sites, including the Mayan site of Cohla, Belize. An archeologist working in the Solomon Islands believes that tranchet axes have been used as

adze An adze () or adz is an ancient and versatile cutting tool similar to an axe but with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle rather than parallel. Adzes have been used since the Stone Age. They are used for smoothing or carving wood in ha ...

-heads until recent times. The axes were typically made from hard stones like

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

chert Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a prec ...

agate Agate ( ) is a banded variety of chalcedony. Agate stones are characterized by alternating bands of different colored chalcedony and sometimes include macroscopic quartz. They are common in nature and can be found globally in a large number of d ...

or other types of rock that could hold a sharp edge when struck. Archeologists believe that the axe’s principal use was as an

; that is, as a tool whose cutting edge is perpendicular to the handle, not parallel. Tranchet axes would have been used primarily for cutting, chopping, and shaping wood while building shelters, making dugout canoes, and crafting tools and weapons. The tranchet axe might have been used to fell lighter timber or for

coppicing Coppicing is the traditional method in woodland management of cutting down a tree to a tree stump, stump, which in many species encourages new Shoot (botany), shoots to grow from the stump or roots, thus ultimately regrowing the tree. A forest ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tranchet Axe Lithics

See also

References