Shaped Around the Fossil: Acheulean Handaxes and the Strange Stones of Sakhnin Valley A new site in northern Israel reveals Lower Palaeolithic handaxes crafted around fossils—a find that reopens the debate over how early humans perceived stone.

A valley in northern Israel has produced 10 handaxes deliberately shaped around fossils and geodes, unprecedented for a single Acheulean site. What did early humans see in strange stone? #Palaeolithic #Acheulean #HumanEvolution www.anthropology.net/p/shaped-aro...

"Two tribes": Handaxe shape variation shows distinct regional cultural groups in southeastern Britain between 424 000 and 374 000 BP - White - Journal of Quaternary Science - Wiley Online Library This paper examines regional and chronological variations in Acheulean handaxe morphology during Marine Isotope Stage 11 (c. 425–365 ka BP) in Britain. Using a data set of 737 handaxes from 13 secure....

A new paper out in Early View today in which we explore the earliest evidence for two contemporaneous cultural groups in Britain in Marine Isotope Stage 11...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

#palaeolithic #archaeology #acheulean #handaxes #lithics #lithicanalysis

'Ubeidiya Is at Least 1.9 Million Years Old, and That Changes the Picture of Early Human Dispersal New dating evidence from the Jordan Valley pushes one of the oldest known out-of-Africa sites back by hundreds of thousands of years

New dating evidence pushes ‘Ubeidiya in the Jordan Valley back to at least 1.9 million years old — roughly the same age as Dmanisi. Were two different hominin groups leaving Africa at the same time? #HumanEvolution #Paleoanthropology #Acheulean www.anthropology.net/p/ubeidiya-i...

Big shift in skills of #biface knapping half a million years ago in Britain, showing variation between phases of #Acheulean occupation of Britain

#archaeology

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235...

The Elephant Bone That Sharpened Stone A half-million-year-old tool from southern England reveals surprising skill in Acheulean hands

A 500,000-year-old tool made from elephant bone, found in England, reveals how early humans used rare materials to sharpen Acheulean handaxes with precision. Ingenuity leaves quiet traces. #Archaeology #HumanOrigins #Acheulean #Paleoanthropology

www.anthropology.net/p/the-elepha...

cordiform biface as commonly found in the #Acheulean (replica) 1.5 million 250,000 years ago the #handaxe made by striking flakes off of a flattish oval core become a very common tool

cordiform biface as commonly found in the #Acheulean (replica) 1.5 million 250,000 years ago the #handaxe made by striking flakes off of a flattish oval core become a very common tool

Screenshot of iPhone lock screen, featuring an obsidian hand axe on a black background with the date Fri Nov 28 and time 11:50 in a bright green color

My new lock screen wallpaper:
Lower Paleolithic 1.2-million-year-old obsidian hand axe made by unknown hominin at Simbiro III (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash Valley, Ethiopia)

#acheulean #lithics #paleoanthropoly

Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa (~1.0 Ma): micromorphology + FTIR reveal ashed plants and burned bone inside Acheulean layers—secure evidence of in-cave fire. #PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #Wonderwerk #Acheulean
Paper: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Use-Wear Analysis Shows Changing Handaxe Grip and Use Across Time at la Noira (France) - Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology Handaxes — sub-oval bifacially flaked stone tools — were produced for over a million years across Africa, Europe, and Asia during the Lower Palaeolithic. Their relatively uniform shape across varied e...

The first article from my PhD results is now published — and it’s Open Access!
We show how handaxe grip and use evolved over time at La Noira (France).
doi.org/10.1007/s419...

#usewear #prehistory #handaxe #paleolithic #acheulean

Half-million-year carpentry. Kalambo Falls, Zambia: two interlocking logs with a cut notch + tool marks; OSL 476 ± 23 ka—the earliest structural use of wood, predating H. sapiens; Acheulean present. #PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #Acheulean #Woodworking doi.org/10.1038/s415...

PNAS Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

Microstratigraphic evidence of in situ #fire in the #Acheulean strata of #WonderwerkCave, Northern Cape province, #SouthAfrica Proof that that burning took place in the cave during the early Acheulean occupation, approximately 1.0 Ma. #humanevolution
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

This non #FlintFriday and #FieldworkFriday, I would like to share this mint-fresh Quartzite handaxe from SE India, likely dating back to Middle Pleistocene.

Yes, it hurts to see that broken tip! Still, one of my best find.

I am field-sick, can't wait to go back.

#Acheulean #India #HumanOrigins

Hominin glacial-stage occupation 712,000 to 424,000 years ago at Fordwich Pit, Old Park (Canterbury, UK) - Nature Ecology & Evolution The authors report Acheulean hominin occupation of eastern Britain during glacial marine isotope stages 17–16 and again in glacial marine isotope stage 12 via stone tools in sediments dated to 712,000...

#archeologia
#Acheulean

From 712,000 to 424,'000 years ago in England, hominins were crafting hand axes and beautiful bifacial tools even during the coldest èeriods of ice ages, according to new dating.

OA paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
1/2

A twist in the tail: on the validity and characteristics of the Phase III handaxe assemblage from Barnfield Pit, Swanscombe, UK The Lower Palaeolithic site of Barnfield Pit, Swanscombe, UK, is famous for its extensive geological sequence that represents the whole of the Marine …

If you like a bit of #Acheulean in your life, I have a new paper out today looking at the putative twisted ovate handaxe assemblage at Swanscombe and what they can tell us about changing hominin technological traditions at the site.

#Palaeolithic #lithics #archaeology

doi.org/10.1016/j.qu...

New paper! 👇
#lithictechnology #oldowan #acheulean #lowerpaleolithic #earlypleistocene #humanevolution #humanfossils
@paleoxose.bsky.social
@iphes-cerca.bsky.social @urv.cat

Seven stone handaxes, made from several different-coloured materials: a & b) chert; c) quartz; d–f) quartzite; g) sandstone.

NEW #Acheulean handaxes from India's Upper Son Valley. The valley was a key dispersal route into South Asia for early humans, but remains under-studied. Over 1000 well-shaped, symmetrical #lithics show the cognitive awareness of the valley's population.

🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

The Acheulean niche: Climate and ecology predict handaxe production in Europe The Acheulean was the most spatially and temporally vast stone tool industry produced by early humans, persisting for >1.6 million years across three continents. Understanding how behavioral and artif...

For #FlintFriday I would like to share a recent preprint we published about the #paleoecology of the #Acheulean with A. Key, S. Lycett and @eegcam.bsky.social

My education was in #prehistory (more specifically #paleolithic) and it felt like home to be working on such a long-standing question! 😍

Highlight of 2024: Visiting Kenya where the group explored the diatomite layers at the Kariandusi , known for Oldowan obsidian handaxes, extinct mammal remains offering invaluable insights into early human technology, and a 1950s diatomite factory. #Acheulean #AfricanArchaeology #RiftValley

Proud to have been part of this project 🐟
#Acheulean
#GBY

My other account (@judgefredd.bsky.social) is gaining #archaeologist followers, so this is a separate account to split academic posts out from my hobby related content.

By way of an intro, I'm a #Palaeolithic #archaeologist at Durham working on social traditions in #Acheulean #handaxe manufacture.

🪨 The Acheulean culture, known for its iconic hand axes, dates back over 1.7 million years! These tools were used by Homo erectus and other early humans, showing remarkable skill and symmetry. ⚒️

What would you make with a stone tool? 👇 #SciTember #StoneTools #Acheulean #Paleoanthropology

📢PhD opportunity in African Prehistory at @PACEA_Bordeaux, Bordeaux University!
Open to #international candidates only ‼️

#Prehistory, #Acheulean, #Oldowan, #Lithic raw material, Eastern #Africa, Ethiopia

➡️adum.fr/as/ed/voirproposition.pl

Didn’t #Ancestors of the #Neanderthals bury their dead, dozens of them, in a pit in #Spain, and include a special, one of a kind #Acheulean Hand Axe? Perhaps! Learn more about the original “#Excalibur”- www.newscientist.com/article/mg22...

Modelling the end of the Acheulean at global and continen... The Acheulean is the longest cultural tradition ever prac...

Original study:

@AlastairKey et al., #Modelling the end of the #Acheulean at global and continental levels suggests widespread #persistence into the Middle #Palaeolithic, @HSScomms 8, 55 (2021). 🔓

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-021-00735-8

Apropos #Paleolithic: Did the #Acheulean persist much longer than previously thought - as suggested in a new study by @UniKent‘s School of Anthropology and Conservation?

www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-03/uok... via @EurekAlert

The 250-280,000 year-old '#Venus' of #BerekhatRam (from the #GolanHeights) is another possible (but equally disputed) figurine claimed to be made by #HomoErectus in the #Acheulean.

The so called venus of Tan-Tan (from #Morocco) is discussed as one of the earliest human representations, a natural but maybe modified #Acheulean (i.e. 300-500,000 years old) piece of quartzite.

The 250-280,00 y/o 'Venus' of Berekhat Ram (#GolanHeights) is another poss. (disputed) fig. claimed made by #HomoErectus in the #Acheulean.

The Venus of Tan-Tan (#Morocco) is claimed to be one of earliest human repr., a natural maybe mod. #Acheulean (300-500,000 y/o) quartzite.

(Contested) 'Venus' of #BerekhatRam (found on Golan Heights 1981) - #Acheulean female figurine made by #HomoErectus ... or just a pebble?