A 20-inch-long ancient hand axe found in Saudi Arabia might be the largest in the world.

Found in Saudi Arabia is what might be the largest prehistoric hand axe in the world—it is more than 20 inches long.

The hand ax is measured by project director Ömer Can Aksoy and manager of the Royal Commission for AlUla care and conservation, Giulia Edmond. Illustration courtesy of Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU)

What could be the largest prehistoric hand axe in the world was found by Saudi Arabian archaeologists. According to a statement, the stone tool is easily held with two hands despite its size, measuring 20.2 inches (51.3 centimeters) in length.

The basalt hand ax was discovered by an international research team on the Qurh Plain, which is a part of northwest Saudi Arabia, immediately south of AlUla. The hand ax's two sharpened sides indicate that it may have been used for chopping or cutting. It is still unknown, though, how the stone tool was used and which species—Homo erectus or Homo sapiens, for example—made it.

The hand axe, measuring twenty inches, was discovered on a sand dune. Illustration courtesy of Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU)

The project director of the excavation, Ömer Can Aksoy, an archaeologist, told Live Science via email that "the handaxe requires much more research to determine an accurate date," so the age of the instrument is also unknown. The team's evaluation of the form and characteristics of other tools discovered at the site, however, suggests that they might be as old as 200,000 years old. As a result, Aksoy speculated that the hand axe may also be from the Lower or Middle Palaeolithic.

The enormous hand ax, measuring 3.7 inches (9.5 cm) wide by 2.2 inches (5.7 cm) thick, almost escaped the attention of researchers. "It was the last 15 minutes of our daily work and it was a hot day," Aksoy stated. "Two of our team members found the giant handaxe lying over the surface of a sand dune."

The remaining crew members joined the team upon hearing their calls, and they proceeded to excavate the area thoroughly. According to Aksoy, "We recorded 13 more handaxes on the site." "Each team member took off their yellow vests in order to highlight the locations of each find over the sand dune."

The other recently discovered hand axes were smaller in size but had a similar style. "After the initial excitement when we discovered this remarkable object we carried out an initial search to see if other similar sized objects had been found," Aksoy explained. "This might be one of the longest," he said, adding that the hunt for large hand axes is still ongoing.

Qurh Plain is the site of ongoing surveys. The October through December field season of 2023 is almost over. It is intended for archeological excavations to resume in the winter and spring of 2024.