The Saltley handaxe is a quartzite

Quartzite

Quartzite is a hard metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to gray, though quartzites often occur in various shades of pink...

 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:...

 found in the gravels of the valley of the River Rea

River Rea

The River Rea is a small river which passes through Birmingham, England. The name of the river derives from a root found in many Indo-European languages and means "to run" or "to flow". It frequently bursts its banks after heavy rain....

 in the Saltley

Saltley

Saltley is an inner-city area of Birmingham, east of the city centre. The area is currently part of the Washwood Heath ward, although formerly a feature of the Nechells ward...

 area of Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 in 1890. Believed to be approximately 500,000 years old, it was the first human artefact from the paleolithic

Paleolithic

The Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...

 era found in the English Midlands

English Midlands

The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...

, which had previously been considered not to have been inhabited before the end of the last glacial period.

The axe is approximately 100mm long and was formed from a brown piece of quartzite. It would have been used by members of the pre-human species Homo heidelbergensis

Homo heidelbergensis

Homo heidelbergensis is an extinct species of the genus Homo which may be the direct ancestor of both Homo neanderthalensis in Europe and Homo sapiens. The best evidence found for these hominins date between 600,000 and 400,000 years ago. H...

, but its rounded edges and manufacture from a material not present locally suggest that it was not found in situ

In situ

In situ is a Latin phrase which translated literally as 'In position'. It is used in many different contexts.-Aerospace:In the aerospace industry, equipment on board aircraft must be tested in situ, or in place, to confirm everything functions properly as a system. Individually, each piece may...

, but was transported to its find site by the action of glacial meltwater. The find was documented and illustrated by the archaeologist John Evans

John Evans (archaeologist)

Sir John Evans, KCB, FRS was an English archaeologist and geologist.-Biography:John Evans was the son of the Rev. Dr A. B. Evans, headmaster of Market Bosworth Grammar School, and was born at Britwell Court, Buckinghamshire...

 in his book Ancient Stone Implements of Britain in 1897, who commented that "the question now arises whether the assumed absence of Palaeolithic implements over this area may not be due to their not having yet been found, and not to their non-existence".

It is now in the collection of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery is a museum and art gallery in Birmingham, England.Entrance to the Museum and Art Gallery is free, but some major exhibitions in the Gas Hall incur an entrance fee...

.