In archaeology

Archaeology

Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...

, a cleaver is a name given to a type of biface

Biface

In archaeology, a biface is a two-sided stone tool and is used as a multi purposes knife, manufactured through a process of lithic reduction, that displays flake scars on both sides. A profile view of the final product tends to exhibit a lenticular shape...

 stone tool

Stone tool

A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric, particularly Stone Age cultures that have become extinct...

 of the Lower Palaeolithic.

Cleavers are a little like hand axe

Hand axe

A hand axe is a bifacial Stone tool typical of the lower and middle Palaeolithic , and is the longest-used tool of human history.-Distribution:...

s. They are large and oblong or U-shaped tools meant to be held in the hand, but unlike hand axes, they have a wide, straight cutting edge running at right angles to the axis of the tool.

Acheulean

Acheulean

Acheulean is the name given to an archaeological industry of stone tool manufacture associated with early humans during the Lower Palaeolithic era across Africa and much of West Asia, South Asia and Europe. Acheulean tools are typically found with Homo erectus remains...

 cleavers resemble handaxes but with the pointed end truncated away. Flake

Lithic flake

In archaeology, a lithic flake is a "portion of rock removed from an objective piece by percussion or pressure," and may also be referred to as a chip or spall, or collectively as debitage. The objective piece, or the rock being reduced by the removal of flakes, is known as a core. Once the proper...

 cleavers have a cutting edge created by a tranchet flake

Tranchet flake

In archaeology, a tranchet flake is a characteristic type of flake removed by a flintknapper during lithic reduction.It involves removing a flake parallel to the final intended cutting edge of the tool which creates a single straight edge as wide as the tool itself...

being struck from the primary surface.