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French to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Archaeology
French term or phrase:hâche-pic
le terme apparait dans la description d'objets trouvés dans un site archéo; quelqu'un aurait une idée de l'équivalent anglais?
quelquechose avec 'axe' sans doute! merci pour votre aide
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 3 hrs (2009-04-03 13:32:57 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Originally used as agricultural tools as far back as prehistoric cultures, picks have also served for tasks ranging from mining to warfare. The design has also evolved into other tools such as the plough and the mattock.
In prehistoric times a large deer antler was often cut down to its shaft and one tine and used as a one-pointed pick.
[Quote from above link - see also use of 'pick'.]
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 4 days (2009-04-08 09:20:51 GMT) Post-grading --------------------------------------------------
il s'agit bien de pickaxe, le texte renvoie à la culture Kura-Araxe. Merci à tous les deux pour vos explications. 3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
The answer seems to depend upon the historical time period of your "site archéo." What is that?
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
57 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +2
pointed axe
Explanation: Does this hache-pic have any sort of handle, making it resemble a modern-day pickaxe in any way? Or is it "just" a worked stone, like the one shown here (which I believe was held directly in the hand): http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/bspf_...
A late Acheulian heavy butt pointed axe (Wymer type F b/i) in mottled brown flint. Found on the site of the boiler house behind the E D Abbott Works at Wrecclesham in 1937 http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/GetRecord/SHHER_4400 (no picture)
ACHEULIAN
The main type of Lower Palaeolithic flint tool industry, which lasted from over one million years ago until about 100,000 and the early part of the last Glaciation. Acheulian flints have been identified over much of Africa, western and Central Europe and as far east as India. The tool-kits are characterised by biface HANDAXES (multi-murpose tools), waste flakes and flake blades, which show considerable local and regional variation. The Acheulian takes its name from the type-site of Saint-Acheul, Amiens, in the Somme Valley, France. http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/glossary?a=A
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The following Wikipedia article suggests that it may be what is called a "hand axe"
Acheulean (also spelled Acheulian, pronounced /əˈʃuːliən/) is the name given to an archaeological industry of stone tool manufacture associated with prehistoric hominins during the Lower Palaeolithic era across Africa and much of West Asia and Europe. Acheulean tools are typically found with Homo erectus remains.
It was the dominant technology for the vast majority of human history and more than one million years ago it was Acheulean tool users who left Africa to first successfully colonize Eurasia.[1] Their distinctive oval and pear-shaped HANDAXES have been found over a wide area and some examples attained a very high level of sophistication suggesting that the roots of human art, economy and social organisation arose as a result of their development. Although it developed in Africa, the industry is named after the type site of Saint Acheul, now a suburb of Amiens in northern France, where some of the first examples were identified in the 19th century. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acheulean
[much more follows, with photos and diagrams]
Also (from the link above):
A HAND AXE is a bifacial Lower and Middle Paleolithic core tool. This kind of axe is typical of the lower Paleolithic (Acheulean) and the middle Palaeolithic (Mousterian) and is the longest-used tool of human history. Not to be confused with a modern wood handled axe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handaxe
xxxBourth Local time: 18:02 Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 57
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 3 hrs (2009-04-03 13:32:57 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Originally used as agricultural tools as far back as prehistoric cultures, picks have also served for tasks ranging from mining to warfare. The design has also evolved into other tools such as the plough and the mattock.
In prehistoric times a large deer antler was often cut down to its shaft and one tine and used as a one-pointed pick.
[Quote from above link - see also use of 'pick'.]
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 4 days (2009-04-08 09:20:51 GMT) Post-grading --------------------------------------------------
Thanks for the points, Amandine
Helen Shiner United Kingdom Local time: 17:02 Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 3
Grading comment
il s'agit bien de pickaxe, le texte renvoie à la culture Kura-Araxe. Merci à tous les deux pour vos explications.
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +2
