186 CHAPTER 8 | Early Homo and the Origins of Culture
gene flow between this region and northern Africa.^10 At
the time, a mere 6 or 7 kilometers separated Gibraltar from
Morocco (compared to 13 kilometers today), and islands
dotted the straits from Tunisia to Sicily. The only direct
land connection between Africa and Eurasia is through
the Middle East and into Turkey and the Caucasus.
The Culture of Homo erectus
As one might expect given its larger brain, Homo erectus
outstripped its predecessors in cultural ability. H. erectus
refined the technology of stone tool making and at some
point began to use fire for light, protection, warmth, and
cooking, though precisely when is still a matter for de-
bate. Indirect evidence indicates that the organizational
and planning abilities of H. erectus, or at least the later
ones, were improved over those of their predecessors.
Acheulean Tool Tradition
Tools of the Acheulean tradition are associated with the
remains of H. erectus in Africa, Europe, and southwestern
Asia. Named for the stone tools first identified at
St. Acheul, France, the signature piece of this tradition is
the hand-axe: a teardrop-shaped tool pointed at one end
with a sharp cutting edge all around (Figure 8.6).
The earliest hand-axes, from East Africa, are about
1.6 million years old. Those found in Europe are no older
than about 500,000 years. At the same time that hand-axes
appeared, archaeological sites in Europe became dramati-
cally more common. This suggests an influx of individuals
bringing Acheulean technology with them, implying con-
tinued gene flow into Europe. Because the spread of the
genus Homo from Africa into Asia took place before the
invention of the hand-axe, it is not surprising to find that
different forms of tools were developed in East Asia.
The evidence from Olduvai Gorge shows that the
Acheulean grew out of the Oldowan tradition: In lower
strata, chopper tools were found along with remains of
H. habilis; above, the first crude hand-axes were found in-
termingled with chopper tools; and in higher strata were
found more finished-looking Acheulean hand-axes with
H. erectus remains.
Early Acheulean tools represent a significant step be-
yond the generalized cutting, chopping, and scraping tools
of the Oldowan tradition. The shapes of Ol dowan tools were
largely controlled by the original form, size, and mechanical
(^10) Balter, M. (2001). In search of the first Europeans. Science 291, 1724.
Figure 8.6 To fabricate this Acheulean hand-axe from flint,
the toolmaker imposed a standardized arbitrary form on the
naturally occurring raw material. The crafter made many
separate strikes to create the sharp edge visible in profile.
properties of raw materials. The shapes of hand-axes and
some other Acheulean tools, by contrast, were more stan-
dardized, apparently reflecting arbitrary preconceived
designs imposed upon a diverse range of raw materials.^11
Overall, a sharper point and a more regular and larger cut-
ting edge were produced from the same amount of stone.
During this part of the Lower Paleolithic tool kits be-
gan to diversify. Besides hand-axes, H. erectus used tools
that functioned as cleavers (hand-axes with a straight,
sharp edge where the point would otherwise be), picks
and knives (variants of the hand-axe form), and flake tools
(generally smaller tools made by hitting a flint core with a
hammerstone, thus knocking off flakes with sharp edges).
Many flake tools were byproducts of hand-axe and cleaver
manufacture. Their sharp edges made them useful “as is,”
but many were retouched (modified again by ancient flint
knappers) to make points, scrapers, borers, and other sorts
of tools. Diversification of tool kits is also indicated by the
smaller numbers of hand-axes in northern and eastern
Europe where people relied on simple flaked choppers, a
wide variety of unstandardized flakes, and supplementary
tools made of bone, antler, and wood.
In eastern Asia, by contrast, people developed a variety
of choppers, scrapers, points, and burins (chisel-like tools)
different from those in southwestern Asia, Europe, and
Africa. Besides direct percussion, anvil (striking the raw
material against a stationary stone) and bipolar percussion
(holding the raw material against an anvil, but striking it at
the same time with a hammerstone) methods were used in
tool manufacture. Although tens of thousands of stone tools
have been found with H. erectus remains at Zhoukoudian,
stone implements are not at all common in Southeast Asia.
Here, favored materials likely were ones that do not preserve
Acheulean tradition The tool-making tradition of Homo
erectus in Africa, Europe, and southwestern Asia in which
hand-axes were developed from the earlier Oldowan chopper. 11
Ambrose, p. 1750.