The role of the the hand ax for hunting is explored in http://www.williamcalvin.com/bk5/bk5ch8.htm The Acheulean hand ax is far, far older: it was the most prominent feature of the Acheulean toolkit made by Homo erectus between 1.5 and 0.3 million years ago. It is found everywhere from the tip of Africa to Europe to South Asia, made of whatever local rocks were handy. (More "throwing theory" stuff at http://www.williamcalvin.com/throwing.html ). Philip Thrift "Paleofitness" http://www.paleofitness.com