Biface, commonly referred to as a hand ax
Description
Lower Paleolithic Period, ca. 300,000–90,000 B.C. Flint. From: Deir el-Bahri, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Egypt. Credit: Gift of C. T. Currelly, 1906.
AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano
Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
Photograph of a bifacial stone hand axe showing a worked, symmetrical cutting edge on both faces.
The image shows a single prehistoric-style biface (hand axe) photographed against a plain light background. The stone is dark gray to black with flaked, faceted surfaces across both sides, creating a broad blade and a thinner cutting edge around the perimeter. No inscriptions, iconography, or carved figures are visible; the object is purely utilitarian and identified by its knapped flint texture and bifacial retouch. The form does not display any hieroglyphic cartouches or textual markings. The object is intact in the photograph, with visible chipping consistent with age and knapping; coloration and surface finish suggest worked stone rather than worked metal or ceramics.
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access).
- AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
- Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
- Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.