Abstract
Bifacially flaked stone tools, traditionally referred to as “handaxes” were produced by Pleistocene hominins for over one million years over three different continents. This spatial and temporal prevalence raises questions about the factors that may have motivated their use as supplements to more simple flake tools. Hence, understanding the comparative functional performance capabilities of flakes and handaxes is essential to understanding factors that may have motivated the repeated production of handaxes during the Pleistocene. Here, we examine this question using a larger scale experimental approach than has previously been undertaken. We statistically assessed the comparative functional efficiencies of basic flake cutting tools and handaxes when undertaking a series of distinct cutting tasks. Furthermore, for the first time, we examined the functional capabilities of flake tools that are of equal size and mass to handaxes. Our results identify that the specific material context in which these tools are used is key to their relative functional efficiencies, with basic flake cutting tools being significantly more efficient than handaxes when undertaking relatively small, precise cutting tasks. Alternatively, we identify that handaxes are significantly more efficient than basic flake cutting tools when tasked with cutting relatively large, resistant portions of material. Thus, we conclude the adoption and widespread production of handaxes by Pleistocene hominins was motivated, at least in part, by requirements to undertake this specific type of task, rather than them being inherently superior to flakes in all cutting tasks. Indeed, interestingly, the comparative functional efficiencies of handaxes and flakes of equal size are far less pronounced than expected, with a number of tasks displaying no significant efficiency differences. Subsequently, we stress that a number of other hypothesized advantages of handaxes may have also been key to their widespread production and use by Pleistocene hominins.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Atkins T (2009) The science and engineering of cutting: the mechanics and processes of separating, scratching and puncturing biomaterials, metals and non-metals. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford
Beyene Y, Katoh S, WoldeGabriel G, et al. (2013) The characteristics and chronology of the earliest Acheulean at Konso, Ethiopia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 110:1584–1591
Clark JD (1994) The Acheulian industrial complex in Africa and elsewhere. In: Corruccini RS, Ciochon RL (eds) Integrative paths to the past. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, pp. 451–469
Clark JD (2001) Variability in primary and secondary technologies of the later Acheulian in Africa. In: Milliken S, Cook J (eds) A very remote period indeed: papers on the palaeolithic presented to Derek Roe. Oxbow Books, Oxford, pp. 1–18
Claud E (2014) The use of biface manufacturing flakes: functional analysis of three Middle Palaeolithic assemblages from southwestern and northern France. Quat Int 361:131–141
Crabtree DE, Davis EL (1968) Experimental manufacture of wooden implements with tools of flaked stone. Science 159:426–428
Crompton RH, Gowlett JAJ (1993) Allometry and multidimensional form in Acheulean bifaces from Kilombe, Kenya. J Hum Evol 25:175–199
Domínguez-Rodrigo M, Serralllonga J, Juan-Tresserras J, Alcala L, Luque L (2001) Woodworking activities by early humans: a plant residue analysis on Acheulian stone tools from Peninj (Tanzania). J Hum Evol 40:289–299
Dytham C (2003) Choosing and Using Statistics: A Biologists Guide. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester
Feblot-Augustins J (1997) La circulation des matières premières au Paléolithique. In: CNRS/ERAUL no 75. Université de Liège, Liège
Frison GC (1989) Experimental use of Clovis weaponry and tools on African elephants. Am Antiq 54:766–784
Galán AB, Domínguez-Rodrigo M (2014) Testing the efficiency of simple flakes, retouched flakes and small handaxes during butchery. Archaeometry 56:1054–1074
Gowlett JAJ (1986) Culture and conceptualisation: the Oldowan-Acheulian gradient. In: Bailey GN, Callow P (eds) Stone age prehistory. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 243–260
Gowlett JAJ (2011) The empire of the Acheulean strikes back. In: Sept J, Pilbeam D (eds) Casting the net wide: papers in honor of Glynn Isaac and his approach to human origins research. American School of Prehistoric Research, Cambridge, MA, pp. 93–114
Harmand S, Lewis JE, Feibel CS, Lepre CJ, Prat S, Lenoble A, et al. (2015) 3.3-million-year-old stone tools from Lomekwi 3, West Turkana, Kenya. Nature 521:310–315
Hester TR, Spence RL, Busby C, Bard J (1976) Butchering a deer with obsidian tools. Contributions of the University of California Archaeological Research Facility 33:45–56
Hou Y, Potts R, Baoyin Y, Zhengtang G, Deino A, Wei W, Weiwen H (2000) Mid-Pleistocene Acheulean-like stone technology of the Bose basin, South China. Science 287:1622–1626
Isaac GL (1969) Studies of early culture in East Africa. World Archaeology 1:1–28
Isaac GL (1986) Foundation stones: early artefacts as indicators of activities and abilities. In: Bailey GN, Callow P (eds) Stone Age prehistory. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 221–241
Jobson RW (1986) Stone tool morphology and rabbit butchering. Lithic Technology 15:9–20
Jones PR (1980) Experimental butchery with modern stone tools and its relevance for Palaeolithic archaeology. World Archaeology 12:153–165
Jones PR (1981) Experimental implement manufacture and use; a case study from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Phil Trans R Soc B 292:189–195
Jones PR (1994) Results of experimental work in relation to the stone industries of Olduvai Gorge. In: Leakey MD, Roe DA (eds) Olduvai Gorge: volume 5. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 254–298
Key AJM, Lycett SJ (2011) Technology based evolution? A biometric test of the effects of handsize versus tool form on efficiency in an experimental cutting task. J Archaeol Sci 38:1663–1670
Key AJM, Lycett SJ (2014) Are bigger flakes always better? An experimental assessment of flake size variation on cutting efficiency and loading. J Archaeol Sci 41:140–146
Key AJM, Lycett SJ (2015) Edge angle as a variably influential factor in flake cutting efficiency: an experimental investigation of its relationship with tool size and loading. Archaeometry 57:911–927
Kleindienst MR (1962) Components of the East African Acheulian assemblage: an analytic approach. In: Mortelmans G (ed) Actes du IVéme Congrés Panafricain de Préhistoire et de l’Etude du Quaternaire, vol 40. Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, pp. 81–105
Lepre CJ, Roche H, Kent DV, Harmand S, Quinn RL, Brugal JP, Feibel C (2011) An earlier origin for the Acheulean. Nature 477:82–85
Lycett SJ, Gowlett JAJ (2008) On questions surrounding the Acheulean ‘tradition’. World Archaeology 40:295–315
Machin AJ, Hosfield RT, Mithen SJ (2007) Why are some handaxes symmetrical? Testing the influence of handaxe morphology on butchery effectiveness. J Archaeol Sci 34:883–893
McCall GS (2005) An experimental examination of the potential function of early Stone Age tool technology and implications for subsistence behavior. Lithic Technology 30:29–43
McGorry RW (2001) A system for the measurement of grip forces and applied moments during hand tool use. Appl Ergon 32:271–279
McGorry RW, Dempsey PG, O’Brien NV (2004) The effect of workstation and task variables on forces applied during simulated meat cutting. Ergonomics 47:1640–1656
Merritt SR (2012) Factors affecting Early Stone age cut mark cross-sectional size: implications from actualistic butchery trials. J Archaeol Sci 39:2984–2994
Merritt SR (2015) Cut mark cluster geometry and equifinality in replicated early Stone ge butchery. Int J Osteoarchaeol. doi:10.1002/oa.2448
Mitchell JC (1995) Studying biface utilisation at Boxgrove: roe deer butchery with replica handaxes. Lithics 16:64–69
Newcomer MH (1971) Some quantitative experiments in handaxe manufacture. World Archaeology 3:85–104
Norton CJ, Bae K, Harris JWK, Lee H (2006) Middle Pleistocene handaxes from the Korean Peninsula. J Hum Evol 51:527–536
Ohel MY (1987) The Acheulean handaxe: a maintainable multi-functional tool. Lithic Technology 16:54–55
Roche H (2005) From simple flaking to shaping: stone-knapping evolution among early hominins. In: Roux V, Bril B (eds) Stone knapping: the necessary conditions for a uniquely hominin behaviour. McDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge, pp. 35–48
Sampson C (2006) Acheulean quarries at hornfels outcrops in the Upper Karoo region of South Africa. In: Goren-Inbar N, Sharon G (eds) Axe age: Acheulean toolmaking from quarry to discard. Equinox Publishing, London, pp. 75–107
Schick K (1998) A comparative perspective on Paleolithic cultural patterns. In: Akazawa T, Aoki K, Bar-Yosef O (eds) Neandertals and modern humans in western Asia. Plenum Press, New York, pp. 449–460
Schiffer MB, Skibo JM (1987) Theory and experiment in the study of technological change. Curr Anthropol 28:595–622
Semaw S, Rogers M, Stout D (2009) The Oldowan–Acheulean transition: is there a “developed Oldowan” artefact tradition? In: Camps M, Chauhan PR (eds) Sourcebook of palaeolithic transitions: methods, theories, and interpretations. Springer, New York, pp. 173–194
Sharon G (2010) Large flake Acheulean. Quat Int 223:226–233
Shea J (2007) Lithic archaeology, or, what stone tools can (and can’t) tell us about early hominin diets. In: Ungar PS (ed) Evolution of the human diet: the known, the unknown, and the unknowable. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 212–229
Shea J (2010) Stone Age visiting cards revisited: a strategic perspective on the lithic technology of early hominin dispersal. In: Out of Africa I: the first hominin colonization of Eurasia. Springer, New York, pp 47–64
de la Torre I, Mora R (2014) The transition to the Acheulean in East Africa: an assessment of paradigms and evidence from Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania). Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 21:781–823
Toth N (1985) The Oldowan reassessed: a close look at early stone artefacts. J Archaeol Sci 12:101–120
Toth N, Schick K (2009) The importance of actualistic studies in early Stone Age research: some personal reflections. In: Schick K, Toth N (eds) The cutting edge: new approaches to the archaeology of human origins. Stone Age Institute Press, Gosport, pp. 267–344
Walker PL (1978) Butchering and stone tool function. Am Antiq 43:710–715
Wang W, Lycett SJ, von Cramon-Taubadel N, Jin JJH, Bae CJ (2012) Comparison of handaxes from Bose Basin (China) and the western Acheulean indicates convergence of form, not cognitive differences. PLoS One 7:e35804
Wynn T (1995) Handaxe enigmas. World Archaeology 27:10–24
Acknowledgments
For important comments, we are grateful to Noreen von Cramon-Taubadel and the anonymous reviewers. During this work, AJKM was supported by a University of Kent 50th Anniversary Research Scholarship. SJL’s work is supported by the Research Foundation for the State University of New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
ESM 1
(DOCX 16 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Key, A.J., Lycett, S.J. Reassessing the production of handaxes versus flakes from a functional perspective. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 9, 737–753 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-015-0300-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-015-0300-1