Three major types of Acheulian tool

• Bifaces (handaxes): bifacially worked tool, teardrop/pear shaped outline; flaked around all of the perimeter; the pointed tip is often thinned
• Picks: pointed tool; similar in shape to a biface, but usually thicker; has a stout triangular point (not always bifacial)
• Cleavers: square-ended tool; U-shaped outline; one end (open end) is usually left unworked

Making Acheulian Tools

• Selection of raw material (usually large flakes struck from lava or quartzite boulders (also obsidian, flint and chert)
• Roughing out: flakes removed alternatively from each face of the blank (more flakes are removed from the tip to narrow it)
• Thinning: very thin flakes can be removed using a softer (organic) hammer, i.e. antler, bone or wood (this refines the shape of the tool)

What were Acheulian tools used for?

• All purpose tools (Prehistoric Swiss Army Knife)
• Butchery tools (for the processing of animal carcasses)
• Digging tools (for plants, tubers, animals or water)

Some Aspects of the Acheulian

• Use large boulders rather than small cobbles (ambitious)
• Tool forms are more controlled than in Olduwan assemblages
• Most sites found in river deposits - (importance of river valleys)
• 'Developed Oldowan' (few bifaces & poorly made): ?same hominid Occurs at same localities as the Acheulian