Archaeologists uncover 1.5-million-year-old hand axes in Iraqi desert A team of archaeologists has made a breakthrough in Iraq’s Western Desert, where seven Paleolithic sites have been discovered comprising over 850 stone tools. Led by Ella Egberts from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), this research was undertaken in late 2024 in a pilot project investigating the geomorphological history of the region and assessing the potential for the preservation of ancient archaeological sites. In the Al-Shabakah region, during the Pleistocene, there was a vast lake. The surroundings and the now-dry lake bed, crisscrossed with ancient dry riverbeds known as wadis, yielded many artifacts. The finds included Lower Paleolithic handaxes, potentially dating back to 1.5 million years, as well as Middle Paleolithic Levallois reduction flakes from around 300,000 to 50,000 years ago... More information: https://archaeologymag.com/2025/02/1-5-million-year-old-hand-axes-in-iraqi-desert/