Korea example of hand axe with a face profile on its mid right edge bridges the geographic gap between European and American examples

'Korea hand axe with crude human face profile looking right'

Korean example of hand axe with a face profile in its mid right edge bridges the geographic gap between European and American examples as recently featured on this blog.

The Paleolithic Age, which can be regarded as the first cultural stage of humankind, began with the manufacture of tools and the use fire. It is estimated that the Korean Peninsula came to be inhabited by humans from the mid-Pleistocene, approximately 780,000~130,000 years age. These paleolithic communities consisted of hunters and gathers who maintained a mobile lifestyle. They established camps in caves or alongside rivers and made various tools.

 Illustration highlighting the human head and face in right 3/4 profile perspective.

This new example from far east Asia implies a culturally mediated figurative art motif incorporated into hand axe tools by Homo erectus or other archaic humans spanning Africa, Europe, Asia and possibly into North America. This is counter to the popular belief such humans were not capable of figurative art.