Acheulean
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Acheulean tools were a style of stone tools made and used by ancient hominids (early humans) during the Lower Palaeolithic period of the Stone Age.[1] They were made by Homo erectus[2], Neanderthals[3], and, later, by early Homo sapiens[1].
Acheulean tools were the dominant technology for most of human history. They played an extremely important role in prehistory. The classic type of Acheulean tool is an oval-shaped or pear-shaped hand axe.[3]
Acheulean tool artifacts have been found in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia as far east as Kolkata, India. Acheulean tools got their name from the type site of Saint-Acheul, which is now a suburb of Amiens in northern France.[1]
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Timeline
Scientists have found some very old Acheulean artifacts. The oldest artifact, found in Ethiopia, has been dated to around 1.95 million years ago.[2] Another, found in Kenya, is around 1.76 million years old.[4] The oldest Acheulean tools ever found in South Asia are around 1.5 million years old.[5]
Humans continued to use Acheulean tools until around 200,000 years ago.[1]
Acheulean tools were the first artifacts to show that humans lived in the ancient past.[6] John Frere first suggested this after finding two Acheulean tools in prehistoric lake deposits, along with the bones of extinct animals. He concluded that they belonged to a "very ancient period indeed, even beyond the present world".[7] However, other scholars still held a pre-Darwinian view of human evolution, and they ignored Frere's ideas until other archaeologists found Acheulean tools too.[3]
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Process
To make Acheulean tools, early hominids began by striking a 'core' flint rock with a hard 'hammerstone' rock to break off a sharp 'flake.'[8] Next they used stone, bone,[9][10] and/or antler[11] hammers to shape the flake into a tool.
These tools were specialized for specific uses.
Importance
Acheulean tools were the dominant technology for most of human history. They were more sophisticated than Oldowan tools, an older stone tool industry. They had so many uses that archaeologists sometimes call them "the Swiss Army knives of the Stone Age."[12]
Acheulean tools were "a major transition in human evolution [... and] a cornerstone in the history of human technology," according to a 2016 paper.[6] They provide important evidence of Homo erectus's cognitive skills.[6] Making an Acheulean hand axe requires the brain's prefrontal cortex to have control over complex tasks and functions, including working memory.[13]
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References
See also
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