The axe was invented in Australia, scientists believe, after the discovery of an almost 50,000-year-old tool fragment in Western Australia's remote Kimberley region.
Australian National University archaeologist Professor Sue O'Connor, who uncovered the tool, said it was more than 10,000 years older than any previous discovery.
The thumbnail-sized fragment was excavated along with other artefacts including food scraps and tools in the early 1990s, but was only recently singled out and dated.
Scientists believe the discovery appears to answer the questions of where and when the first axes were invented, and shows early Australians were technological innovators.
Prof O'Connor said evidence suggested the axes were developed after people arrived in Australia about 50,000 years ago.
"We know that they didn't have axes where they came from. There are no axes in the islands to our north," Prof O'Connor said.
"They arrived in Australia and innovated axes."
The axes were only made in Australia's tropical north, perhaps suggesting two different colonising groups or that the technology was abandoned as people spread into desert and sub-topical woodlands, University of Sydney's Professor Peter Hiscock said.
"Although humans spread across Australia, axe technology did not spread with them," Prof Hiscock said.
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