WHAT IS THE MICOQUIAN?

Final Acheulian phase defined on the basis of assemblages from La Micoque, near Les Eyzies, France. Sites are found in central Europe, including some in the former Soviet Union. The characteristic artifact is a pointed pyriform (pear shaped) or lanceolate (tapering) biface with a well-made tip.

WHAT IS THE LUPEMBAN?

A stone industry of the Lower Paleolithic of west-central Africa, developed from a Sangoan predecessor and characterized by tools appropriate for rough woodwork. Lupemban industry has been found in northern Angola and southern Zaire and an important dated site is at Kalambo Falls on the Zambia–Tanzania border. In contrast with the Sangoan, Lupemban assemblages are marked by the fine quality of their bifacial stoneworking technique on elongated double-ended points, large side scrapers, and thick core-axes. The industry spans from before 30,000 bc until c. 15,000 bc. [Lupembian]

WHAT IS THE LOWER PALEOLITHIC?

The earliest part of the Paleolithic period, beginning about 2.5 million years ago and lasting to about 100,000 years ago. It was characterized by the first use of crude stone tools, the practice of hunting and gathering, and the development of social units, settlements, and structures. It was the era of the earliest forms of humans. The phases of the Paleolithic have been subdivided based on artifact typology; the Lower Paleolithic is the period of early hominid pebble tool and core tool manufacture. In China, the Early Paleolithic ran from 1,000,000 to 73,000 bc.

WHAT IS THE HAND AXE?

A large bifacially worked core tool, normally oval, pointed, or pear-shaped, and one of the most typical stone tools of the Lower Paleolithic. It is the diagnostic implement of certain Lower Paleolithic industries (Abbevillian, Chellean, Acheulian), and one variety of the Mousterian. In spite of the name it was not an ax at all and probably served as an all-purpose tool. The oldest and crudest hand axes have been found in Africa; the finer, Acheulian tools are known from most of Africa, Europe, southwest Asia, and India. It was used for chopping, chipping, flaking, cutting, digging, and scraping. Hand axes first appear between 1 and 2 million years ago and they were common in assemblages for about a million years.

WHAT IS THE CLEAVER ?

CLEAVER: A heavy, large core or flake tool of the Paleolithic period, typically having a wide, straight cutting edge at one end, like a modern axhead. Technologically it is related to the hand ax, and is often found as a component of Acheulian (especially Upper Acheulian) hand-ax industries. The sharp transverse cutting edge was almost always notched by use but never sharpened. Along with bifacial tools, it was one of the main instruments of Homo erectus. It is found mainly in Africa, where much of the flake surface is left unretouched. The axlike knife was used from the Middle Pleistocene era to cut through animal bone and meat.

WHAT IS THE CLACTONIAN ?

CLACTONIAN: An early flake-tool culture of Europe, dating from the early Mindel-Riss (Great interglacial) of the Pleistocene epoch, which occurred from 1,600,000 to 10,000 years ago. It was named after discoveries at Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, England. A kind of concave scraper, perhaps used to smooth and shape wooden spears, is typical of the Clactonian industry. Apart from the tip of a wooden spear, the artifacts consist of trimmed flint flakes and chipped pebbles, some of which can be classified as chopper tools. Hand axes were absent. The Clactonian seems, therefore, to have coexisted with the early Acheulian. Some believe that the two industries are quite distinct, while others maintain that both assemblages might have been made by the same people, and that the Clactonian could in theory be an Acheulian industry from which hand axes were absent because such tools were not needed for the jobs carried out at a particular site. Clactonian and related industries are distributed throughout the north European plain, and Clactonian tools are similar in appearance to those produced in the Soan industry of Pakistan and in several sites in eastern and southern Africa. The Tayacian industry of France and Israel is believed to be a smaller edition of the Clactonian.

WHAT IS THE CHOPPER ?

CHOPPER: Any large, simple stone or pebble tool with a single, transverse cutting edge. It was used for hacking, breaking, or chopping and was especially characteristic of Middle Pleistocene, pre-Acheulian industries of the Old World, such as Choukoutien, in the Clactonian in England, and at the earliest levels of Oldowan industries. This crude tool was made by striking a limited number of flakes from the edge of a cobble or fist-size rock to produce a coarse cutting edge. It persisted until the Neolithic. [chopping tool, slitter]

WHAT IS THE CHELLEAN ?

CHELLEAN: An outdated classification term used for the first stage of biface manufacture believed to precede the Acheulian, and named after the type site of Chelles in the Somme Valley, France. It is now generally accepted that Chellean implements should be classified as early Acheulian. The term Chello-Acheulian, once applied to African Earlier Stone Age biface assemblages, has also been replaced by the term Acheulian.