Handaxes are the typical tool of the Acheulean Lithic Tradition, the primary culture of the Lower Palaeolithic era. Handaxes are large tools bifacially knapped, hence the term bifaces, and have a long cutting edge along most of their periphery. They are also called “large cutting tools”.

Handaxe production requires advanced technology, and their symmetry and aesthetic shape indicate high cognitive abilities of their makers – hominins who lived in the Hula Valley half a million years ago.

Thousands of handaxes were collected by Amnon Asaf, the founder of the museum, from the fields around Kibbutz Ma’ayan Barukh during 50 years of collecting.