Question

Who is said to have first made tools like the hand- axe?
A) Homo habilis
B) Homo sapiens
C) Homo erectus
D) Homo sapiens sapiens

Answer 1

Hint: A hand axe (or handaxe) is a two-faced prehistoric stone instrument that has been used for the longest time in human history. It's commonly made of chert or flint. It is characteristic of the lower Acheulean and middle Palaeolithic (Mousterian) periods.

Complete answer:
The hand axe was discovered at Konso-Gardula, an Ethiopian excavation site where previous researchers discovered Homo erectus hand axes, all of which were fashioned of stone. The age of the hand axe was estimated to be around 1.4 million years based on its location.

Let us look at the given options:
A) Homo habilis: This option is incorrect because Our forefathers, Homo habilis, may have been the first to use stone tools. Core tools, choppers, and smaller flakes used as scrapers are all examples of Mode 1 technology. They are commonly referred to as Oldowan stone tools because the first examples were discovered in Tanzania's Oldoway (now Olduvai) Gorge. They did not invent the hand-axe.

B) Homo sapiens: This option is incorrect because Homo Sapiens are the present species of human race, the various inventions made by them include computers, cars, airplanes, etc. They did not invent the hand-axe. It was invented much before,

C) Homo erectus: This is the correct answer. The hand-axe was one of the most important tools used by early forms of man, such as Homo erectus and Homo Neanderthal Man. Homo erectus, the longest-living human species, was the first hominid to achieve a completely human-like body shape. They are considered to be an ancestor of contemporary humans (Homo sapiens).

D) Homo sapiens sapiens: This option is incorrect because in anthropology and palaeontology, Homo sapiens sapiens refers to the subspecies of Homo sapiens that includes the sole living members of the genus Homo, modern humans. They were not the ones who invented hand-made instruments like the hand-axe.

Thus, the correct answer is Option (C) i.e, Homo erectus.

Note: Homo erectus (meaning "upright man") is an extinct Pleistocene archaic human species that first appeared about 2 million years ago and whose remains are among the genus Homo's first recognised members. With a continental span extending from the Iberian Peninsula to Java, H. Erectus was the first human progenitor to expand over Eurasia.