Charlie,
That last gigantic "axe" of yours....must have been for smashing heads!
The acheulean one you posted is more like what i saw.
You probably already know about all the following, but you keep saying
that early man was engaged in "ochre staining."...so here's some thoughts.
About earth pigments.
I have used a lot of them in painting, and i think there's a difference between
staining and painting.
It is my impression that painted-on pigments would stay on the surface like any other pigment.
Staining implies that the material soaks into or penetrates something beneath the surface. Lots of rocks have natural iron staining which resembles the same colors as ochre. Around here a lot of quartzite is stained red or brown.
Further east the Indians used iron nodules from the sandhills as a source of paint. Colors range from black through reds and yellows. These nodules are hollow, with a powdery interior surface of pigment. something like this:
Here's some iron staining:
The deeper you go, the higher you fly.