A minute stone flake from northwestern Australia dug up by an archaeologist over two decades ago is now being touted as the world's oldest example of a "hafted axe" or an axe with a handle. That claim is being questioned by other scientists.

The controversy involves a sliver of basalt just 11 millimeters long its discoverer, Prof. Sue O'Connor from the Australian National University, claims comes from the oldest hafted axe ever discovered. The fragment appears to have been ground smooth, evidence it had been worked on by human hands. She estimated the age of the axe at between 45,000 to 49,000 years old.

Like Us on Facebook

The fragment is 10,000 years older than the previous oldest known fragments found in 2010 in northern Australia. The discovery also coincides with the arrival of people in Australia. Archaeologists say hafted axes are normally associated with the development of agriculture.

The scientists that discovered the axe fragment claim it proves an adaptation to a new environment by the very first Australians.

"We know that they didn't have axes where they came from," said O'Connor. "There's no axes in the islands to our north. They arrived in Australia and innovated axes."

That claim is being disputed by Prof. John Shea, a stone tool expert at Stony Brook University in the United States. Prof. Shea noted that because the flake is the only one of its kind makes it difficult to draw confident conclusions as to its significance.

He noted that its smooth surface might have derived from other than human action. Even if it were an axe blade, there is no proof it was ever a hafted weapon.

"The evidence is essentially one flake -- one piece of stone out of hundreds and hundreds that they've excavated from this rock shelter site," according to the BBC. "They would make a stronger case if they could show that similar chips with edge abrasion occurred at a greater number of sites."

Similar objects of this kind could link this ancient discovery to times and locations where ground axes are more common. Without this link, there is "still reason for doubt" that the little fragment is, indeed, from an axe blade.

TagsAustralia, hafted axe, Prof. Sue O'Connor, Australian National University, Prof. John Shea, Stony Brook University, basalt