Acheulian Large Flake Industries: Technology Chronology and Significance

The Acheulian culture, which persisted for over one and a half million years, is attested in diverse environments and over wide geographical expanses. The hallmark of Acheulian culture is its large cutting tools, primarily handaxes and cleavers. The culture itself was named after the site of St. Acheul on the terraces of the Somme River, France, where handaxes were first identified as prehistoric stone tools. Large cutting tools very likely emerged in East Africa more than 1.5 million years ago but have been reported from a wide range of areas, spanning South Africa to Northern Europe, and India to the Iberian Peninsula. The aim of this study is to compare assemblages from geographically diverse sites characterized by the production of LCTs based on large flakes in an attempt to assess their technological, morphological, and typological suitability for grouping together as a common stage within the Acheulian techno-complex.