Lower Paleolithic stone tool features and shape have been studied in detail; traceology and experimental archaeology have provided us with a lot of information about possible tool use and functionality. The way modern humans use these tools has been used as a proxy for the study of early stone tool-makers’ behavior, taking into account that our ancestors could have had similar manipulative capabilities to us. Less importance has been given to stone tool ergonomics, even if comfortable and ergonomic grasping prevent hand damage and improve tool use. Here, we measured the phalanx flexion of 82 subjects during comfortable stone tool handling for both Oldowan pebble tools and Acheulean handaxes. We expected differences in the pattern of phalanx flexion in the two tool types and in relation with tool dimensions. In fact, Oldowan pebble tools and handaxes show differences in finger flexion and in the single finger contribution to comfortable grasping.

下旧石器时代的石材工具的特征和形状已被详细研究。跟踪学和实验考古学为我们提供了有关可能的工具使用和功能的大量信息。考虑到我们的祖先可能具有与我们类似的操纵能力，现代人类使用这些工具的方式已被用作研究早期石材工具制造者行为的代理。即使舒适和符合人体工程学的抓握可以防止手部受伤并改善工具的使用，石材工具的人机工程学也没有那么重要。在这里，我们测量了Oldowan卵石工具和Acheulean斧头在舒适的石头工具处理过程中对82位受试者的趾骨屈曲。我们预期两种工具类型中指骨屈曲模式的差异以及与工具尺寸有关的差异。事实上，