| Abstract: |
Edge-ground and avoid axe-like stone tools are unique features of the Japanese Late Palaeolithic. Over 2000 examples of axe-like stone tools have been reported so far and about 60% of them are edge-ground. The vast majority of both the ground and the unground types of axe-like tools date to the earliest phases of the Late Palaeolithic, predating c. 23,000 BP. The oldest examples are found in South Kanto in eastern Japan and may exceed 30,000 years in age. The technology diffused from Kanto to all other regions of Honshu and Kyushu, but it also disappeared earlier in Kanto than elsewhere. After a long hiatus from c. 23,000 to 15,000 BP, with no evidence of axe-like and edge-like ground tools, a few appeared again in sites in the central mountains. The function of these tools is not known.
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