ANT200H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Hand Axe, Mousterian, Shanidar Cave
Document Summary
New percussion techniques: hard-hammer percussion, used to start getting the basic form of a handaxe, ex: stone. Soft-hammer percussion: using antler, or bone, so it is softer, and gives you more control and precision is tool making. Formal flake tools acheulian cleaver: modern experiements show that these tools were good for skinning. Scrappers were good for woodworking and skinning as well: creating this range of specialized tool, it increased depth of forward planning, as well as hand eye coordination. Increased global diversity: early acheulian, 1. 7-600,000 ya, africa only, chopper-chopping tools, 1. 6 mya - , east africa. Choppers and bamboo tools: these are organic materials that do not preserve well. So we think that h. erectus used these tools. Soft-hammer percussion: africa and southern europe, the overall picture is strong stability of tool kits in the different geographic areas. But towards the end, we start to see diversity among tools. England, you have simple flakes and no handaxes.
