Acheulean

Bifacial hand axes, scratches, rough peaks

The Acheulian (English: Acheulean ) is an archaeological culture of the Old Stone Age, which is defined by the existence of bifaces. While the Altacheuléen belongs to the Lower Palaeolithic age, is - depending on the processor - already partly the Mittelacheuléen, but consistently associated with the Jungacheuléen by the presence of the Middle Palaeolithic Levallois.

Bifaces occur in Africa for the first time in the Early Stone Age before about 1.76 million years ago. Preceded them scree devices of the Oldowan as the oldest tools of humankind. As a manufacturer of hand-ax cultures coexisting in East Africa Hominini species Homo habilis, Homo rudolfensis and Homo ergaster and Homo erectus in question. Bifaces are found throughout Africa and in most regions of Eurasia, where they are, however, more commonly detected until much later, around 600,000 years ago.

Besides bifaces, there are other typical stone tools in the Acheulean. In Africa, the great cleaver ( Cleaver ) and reductions in the European Acheulian especially scrapers and small hand axes, which are also called Lump.

History of Research

The name derives from one of the earliest localities of bifaces, Saint- Acheul, a suburb of Amiens. Now houses the Archaeological Garden of Saint - Acheul at this point. The up to probably about 500,000 year old Fund layers were discovered in 1838 by Jacques Boucher de Perthes. Previously, John Frere had already submitted some bifaces from the Palaeolithic Site at Hoxne the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1797, which were not accepted by the scientific community. The discoveries of Boucher de Perthes were initially rejected, to Jean Paul Rigollot in the same layers found more bifaces, whose age was confirmed by the geologist Joseph Prestwich.

From 1869 Gabriel de Mortillet created based on the eponymous sites in France, a classification and nomenclature of the periods of the Paleolithic, involving the Acheuléens. The European Acheulian (from about 600,000 before present) in 1924 divided by Hugo Obermaier in adult and young - Acheulian (border at about 300,000 before present). Klaus Günther led in 1964 additionally the Spätacheuléen one. Today a ( chronologically not clear tangible subdivision ) applies in Old, Middle and Jung- Acheulian. Especially the end of the Acheuléens is unclear outlined, for example, in sub-Saharan Africa during Sangoan. So turns out that many inventories introduced by Gerhard Bosinski " Lebenstedter group " of Jungacheuléen in the middle Würm glaciation or Weichselian glacial period ( 60000-50000 before present) are now dated and the eponymous find site of Salzgitter - Lebenstedt in the Micoquian be submitted. There are also during the early Weichselian Glacial vaguely defined boundaries between Acheulian and Mousterian Acheulean de tradition (for example, reference Ochtmissen near Lüneburg ). Main characteristic is always the presence of bifaces, combined with a large-format discount industry with scrapers. Both the evolutionist view of a primitive Acheulian ( Abbevillian or Protoacheuléen ), as well as the comparison of free hand ax inventories as Clactonian are outdated today. Although a general development trend of regular and thinner bifaces is, these are isolated cases already at least 500,000 years ago before (for example, Boxgrove Quarry, England).

Dissemination

The geographical spread of the Acheulean is due to paleoclimatic and environmental factors that have both the ice ages and the desertification of the Sahara played a role. Tools of the Acheulian were found on the entire African continent, to the rainforest in the Congo. The spread to the north was probably over Asia Minor and the Arabian Peninsula into today's Iran and Pakistan to India and beyond. The so-called Movius line, which should display the widest geographical spread of the hand-ax cultures in Asia, but is now deprecated because hand axes were also found in Southeast Asia. New finds from southern China (eg Bose - region ) and of the Philippine island of Luzon show the distribution of bifaces to eastern Southeast Asia and so far beyond the Movius Line.

In Europe, the introduction of bifaces is occupied in the Mediterranean area before about 900,000 years ago, north of the Alps, however, the earliest before about 600,000 years ( finding place Boxgrove Quarry ).

Acheulian industry

Old Acheulean

So-called proto- bifaces in Africa the stage of the Old Acheulean be assigned. The oldest, dated to an age of 1.76 million years finds come from Kokiselei from the western shores of Lake Turkana in Kenya; almost equally old, dated 1.75 million years finds come from the Konso Formation in southern Ethiopia and were - as the finds from the Lake Turkana - with Homo erectus associated.

The oldest finds of the northern Alpine Europe come from the finding place Boxgrove Quarry. However, the majority of European Acheulian finds comes from the Holstein interglacial and the subsequent cooling phase in the early Saale complex. The majority of the sites in the icing area appears to have been destroyed by solifluction the following Saale glacial period ( Riss glaciation or alpine ).

The hand ax here represents the most important turning point in the stone tools dar. first specialized types were produced for individual activities. Bifaces often form only a small part in the precipitation of the Fund Acheuléens. A more common are tees and it worked devices (eg scraper ).

Central Acheulian

In the middle Acheulean, the Fund is improving. New and better machined devices were found. The bifaces are lanceolate, the down devices numerous. It can be found scrapers, tips, serrated tools and drills. As early as the middle Acheulean devices ( plate core technology) were produced sporadically in the so-called Levallois technique, which are typical of the Middle Palaeolithic. The middle Acheulean is widely used in Western Europe, finds there from all over France, England ( Swanscombe Skull ) and Belgium.

In South Africa, discovered 500,000 year old stone artifacts were interpreted in 2012 as projectile points; this interpretation should be correct, the reference from the Kathu Pan 1 ( KP1 ) were derived finds the oldest evidence of the use of spears.

Jung- Acheulean

In the time of Jungacheuléen, it begins in the late Riss glacial period and ends at the beginning of the last glacial period, to make the transition from Homo erectus to the Neanderthals. The tools produced continued to gain quality. There are however also lance-shaped to heart - and almond-shaped bifaces, which are characterized by finely worked out tips and straight side edges. Decorated partially pure functionality also hand axes are interpreted as signs of aesthetic sensibilities. The machined with Levallois devices spread quickly. Reduction devices are often hard to distinguish from the typical Mousterian. Finds there from France, England, Belgium, Portugal and Spain.

The final stage, the Spätacheuléen, was partly in the same period as the subsequent stages of the Micoquian or the Mousterian. Simultaneously with the Acheulian there are cultures of Clactonian and Tayacien.

Way of life

About the lifestyle of Homo erectus enter the find sites of Acheulean information. Most sites are free- find spots. Only later caves were inhabited increasingly. The first traces of the use of fire found in the Mindel glaciation. Larger game, for example, forest rhino and forest elephant, has been hunted regularly, as you can see from the rather frequent discovery of bones together with tools of the Acheulian. Graves have not survived. You also know nothing about the social organization or religious views of the people of that time.

Stone tools, which were of an American- Greek research team found near Plakias on the south coast of Crete in 2008 and 2009, suggest that early humans probably already 700,000 years ago were able to achieve as a seafaring distant shores.

Important hominid

• Sierra de Atapuerca (Homo antecessor / Homo heidelbergensis )
• Mauer near Heidelberg, lower jaw of Mauer (Homo erectus heidelbergensis ), about 600,000 or 500,000 before present
• Steinheim an der Murr, "Proto - Neanderthal " (Homo steinheimensis ), about 300,000 before present
• Reilingen, Schwetzingen, Homo erectus

Fund places in Germany

• Markham, Eythra, Cospuden, Zwochau (near Leipzig )
• Walldorf ( Saalekreis near Halle )
• Kärlich (district Mayen -Koblenz )
• Called Lübbow and Wolter village ( Lüchow- Dannenberg ), also called " Öring - Paleolithic "
• Salzgitter Lebenstedt ( " Lebenstedter group," Today's launch of Micoquian )
• Rheindahlen ( near Mönchengladbach )