Acheulean

Pounding water chestnuts on Jordan's ancient banks

New research highlights starch grains from many kinds of plants that were processed by pounding tools at Gesher Benot Ya'aqov.

Feb 28 •

Why did the ancients make gigantic handaxes?

Looking at new research on the distribution and function of curiously large bifacial tools

Apr 28, 2024 •

Homo erectus keeps getting older

New work from Melka Kunture, Ethiopia, shows the Garba IVE infant jaw is one of the oldest individuals of this longest-lasting hominin species.

Oct 13, 2023 •

Bison bones show butchery practices 400,000 years ago

In the Gran Dolina cave site, ancient people left a bone bed of bison killed in two seasons and butchered at the site with expedient tools.

Nov 20, 2022 •

The transition to Middle Stone Age from Acheulean did not make humans more deadly

Reading a meta-analysis of faunal data by Geoff Smith and coworkers that concludes that all Middle Pleistocene African peoples hunted the same prey…

Apr 22, 2020 •

Did Acheulean hominins have long-distance obsidian trade?

I review several papers looking into the occurrence of obsidian artifacts in the Acheulean of eastern Ethiopia.

Dec 23, 2019 •

Remarkable preservation of an Acheulean campsite at Gesher Benot Ya'aqov

My notes on a publication describing evidence for cooking and eating fish, crabs, and plants

Dec 18, 2009 •

#nojs-banner { position: fixed; bottom: 0; left: 0; padding: 16px 16px 16px 32px; width: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; background: red; color: white; font-family: -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; } #nojs-banner a { color: inherit; text-decoration: underline; } This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts