Ancient Humans Made Millions Of These - We Don’t Know Why

2023-05-12

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The Acheulean handaxe was the most common tool of early humans, but we still don’t know what the heck they used it for.

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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:

- Acheulean handaxe: large, chipped stone objects which represent the oldest, most common, and longest-used formally-shaped working tool in human history.

- Microscopy: the technical field of using microscopes to view samples & objects that cannot be seen with the unaided eye.

- Microlith: small stone tool usually made of flint or chert and typically a centimeter or so in length and half a centimeter wide.

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CREDITS

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David Goldenberg | Script Writer, Narrator and Director

Lizah van der Aart | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation

Nathaniel Schroeder | Music

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Lizah van der Aart • Sarah Berman • Cameron Duke

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OTHER CREDITS

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"Acheulean handaxe" photo by Mary Harrsch

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mharrsch/2501309147/

"Obsidian Microlith" photo by the Smithsonian

https://www.si.edu/object/obsidian-microlith:nmnhanthropology_8132133

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REFERENCES

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Rodriguez, Alice. (2023). Personal Communication. Department of Anthropology, NYU. https://as.nyu.edu/departments/anthropology/people/graduate-students/doctoral-students/alice-rodriguez.html

Iovita, Radu. (2023). Personal Communication. Department of Anthropology, NYU. https://as.nyu.edu/faculty/radu-iovita.html

Chang, M. (2009). The Case Against Sexual Selection as an Explanation of Handaxe Morphology. Paleoanthropology. https://paleoanthro.org/static/journal/content/PA20090077.pdf

Welsh, J. (2022). Tools May Have Been First Money. Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/18751-hand-axe-tools-money.html

Key, A J. M., Proffitt, T, Stefani, Elena and Lycett, Stephen J. (2016) Looking at handaxes from another angle: Assessing the ergonomic and functional importance of edge form in Acheulean bifaces. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 44 (Part A). pp. 43-55. https://kar.kent.ac.uk/57215/3/Key%20et%20al.%20Jul_30_2016_Handaxe%20edge%20angles.pdf

Iovita, R., McPherron, S.P., 2011. The handaxe reloaded: A morphometric reassessment of Acheulian and Middle Paleolithic handaxes. Journal of Human Evolution 61, 61–74. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.02.007

Iovita, R., Tuvi-Arad, I., Moncel, M.-H., Despriée, J., Voinchet, P., Bahain, J.-J., 2017. High handaxe symmetry at the beginning of the European Acheulian: The data from la Noira (France) in context. PLOS ONE 12, e0177063. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0177063

Wayman. J.L. (2010) Foot Cutters: A New Hypothesis for the Function of Acheulian Bifaces and Related Lithics, Lithic Technology, 35:2, 171-194, Retrieved from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01977261.2010.11721089

Sorensen, A.C., Claud, E. & Soressi, M. Neandertal fire-making technology inferred from microwear analysis. Sci Rep 8, 10065 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-28342-9

Aranda, V. et al. (2012) Experimental Program for the Detection of Use Wear in Quartzite. International Conference on Use-Wear Analysis: Use-Wear 2012.

Iovita, R., Sano, K. (Eds.), 2016. Multidisciplinary approaches to the study of Stone Age weaponry, Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht.

M. Dominguez- Rodrigo, J. Serrallonga, J. Juan-Tresserras, L. Alcala, L. Luque. (2001). Woodworking activities by early humans: a plant residue analysis on Acheulian stone tools from Peninj (Tanzania), Journal of Human Evolution, Volume 40, Issue 4. https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.2000.0466