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Abbevillian Industry
Abbevillian (formerly also ''Chellean'') is a term for the oldest lithic industry found in Europe, dated to between roughly 600,000 and 400,000 years ago. The original artifacts were collected from road construction sites on the Somme river near Abbeville by a French customs officer, Boucher de Perthes. He published his findings in 1836. Subsequently, Louis Laurent Gabriel de Mortillet (1821–1898), professor of prehistoric anthropology at the School of Anthropology in Paris, published (1882) "''Le Prehistorique, antiquité de l'homme''", in which he was the first to characterize periods by the name of a site. Chellean included artifacts discovered at the town of Chelles, a suburb of Paris. They are similar to those found at Abbeville. Later anthropologists substituted Abbevillian for Chellean, the latter of which is no longer in use. Abbevillian tool users were the first archaic humans in Europe, classified as either late Homo erectus as Homo antecessor or as Homo heidelb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Handaxe
A hand axe (or handaxe or Acheulean hand axe) is a prehistoric stone tool with two faces that is the longest-used tool in human history, yet there is no academic consensus on what they were used for. It is made from stone, usually flint or chert that has been "reduced" and shaped from a larger piece by knapping, or hitting against another stone. They are characteristic of the lower Acheulean and middle Palaeolithic ( Mousterian) periods, roughly 1.6 million years ago to about 100,000 years ago, and used by '' Homo erectus'' and other early humans, but rarely by ''Homo sapiens''. Their technical name (biface) comes from the fact that the archetypical model is a generally bifacial (with two wide sides or faces) and almond-shaped (amygdaloidal) lithic flake. Hand axes tend to be symmetrical along their longitudinal axis and formed by pressure or percussion. The most common hand axes have a pointed end and rounded base, which gives them their characteristic almond shape, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mousterian
The Mousterian (or Mode III) is an archaeological industry of stone tools, associated primarily with the Neanderthals in Europe, and to the earliest anatomically modern humans in North Africa and West Asia. The Mousterian largely defines the latter part of the Middle Paleolithic, the middle of the West Eurasian Old Stone Age. It lasted roughly from 160,000 to 40,000 BP. If its predecessor, known as Levallois or Levallois-Mousterian, is included, the range is extended to as early as 300,000–200,000 BP. The main following period is the Aurignacian (c. 43,000–28,000 BP) of ''Homo sapiens''. Naming The culture was named after the type site of Le Moustier, three superimposed rock shelters in the Dordogne region of France. Similar flintwork has been found all over unglaciated Europe and also the Near East and North Africa. Handaxes, racloirs, and points constitute the industry; sometimes a Levallois technique or another prepared-core technique was employ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Levallois Technique
The Levallois technique () is a name given by archaeologists to a distinctive type of stone knapping developed around 250,000 to 300,000 years ago during the Middle Palaeolithic period. It is part of the Mousterian stone tool industry, and was used by the Neanderthals in Europe and by modern humans in other regions such as the Levant. It is named after 19th-century finds of flint tools in the Levallois-Perret suburb of Paris, France. The technique was more sophisticated than earlier methods of lithic reduction, involving the striking of lithic flakes from a prepared lithic core. A striking platform is formed at one end and then the core's edges are trimmed by flaking off pieces around the outline of the intended lithic flake. This creates a domed shape on the side of the core, known as a tortoise core, as the various scars and rounded form are reminiscent of a tortoise's shell. When the striking platform is finally hit, a lithic flake separates from the lithic core with a d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tayacian
The Tayacian is a Palaeolithic stone tool industry that is a variant of the Mousterian. It was first identified as distinct by Abbé Breuil from the site of La Micoque in Les-Eyzies-de-Tayac although since then the cave at Fontéchevade Fontéchevade is a cave in Charente, France, which contains Palaeolithic remains from 200,000 and 120,000 years ago. The fossils consist of two skull fragments. Unlike Neanderthals and ''Homo sapiens'' of the time, the frontal skull fragment lacks ... has become the "reference site for this industry".Chase, P.G., Debenath, A., Dibble, H.L. and McPherron, S.P. 2009. The Cave of Fontéchevade: Recent Excavations and their Paleoanthropological Implications. New York: Cambridge University Press. Page 17-20 Tools from this culture have been excavated in a stratigraphic column in the Syria area.{{cite book , title = An Encyclopedia of World History , editor-last = Langer , editor-first = William L. , edition = 5th , publisher = Houghton Mifflin Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clactonian
The Clactonian is the name given by archaeologists to an archaeological industry, industry of European flint tool manufacture that dates to the early part of the interglacial period known as the Hoxnian Stage, Hoxnian, the Mindel glaciation, Mindel-Riss glaciation, Riss or the Holstein interglacial, Holstein stages (c. 400,000 years ago). Clactonian tools were made by ''Homo heidelbergensis''. It is named after 400,000-year-old finds made by Hazzledine Warren in a palaeochannel at Clacton-on-Sea in the England, English county of Essex in 1911. The Artifact (archaeology), artifacts found there included flint chopping tools, flint Lithic flake, flakes and the tip of a worked wooden shaft along with the remains of a giant elephant and Hippopotamus antiquus, hippopotamus. Further examples of the tools have been found at sites including Barnfield Pit and Rickson's Pit, near Swanscombe in Kent and Barnham, Suffolk, Barnham in Suffolk; similar industries have been identified across North ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acheulian
Acheulean (; also Acheulian and Mode II), from the French ''acheuléen'' after the type site of Saint-Acheul, is an archaeological industry of stone tool manufacture characterized by the distinctive oval and pear-shaped "hand axes" associated with ''Homo erectus'' and derived species such as ''Homo heidelbergensis''. Acheulean tools were produced during the Lower Palaeolithic era across Africa and much of West Asia, South Asia, East Asia and Europe, and are typically found with ''Homo erectus'' remains. It is thought that Acheulean technologies first developed about 1.76 million years ago, derived from the more primitive Oldowan technology associated with ''Homo habilis''. The Acheulean includes at least the early part of the Middle Paleolithic. Its end is not well defined, depending on whether Sangoan (also known as "Epi-Acheulean") is included, it may be taken to last until as late as 130,000 years ago. In Europe and Western Asia, early Neanderthals adopted Acheule ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olduwan
The Oldowan (or Mode I) was a widespread stone tool archaeological industry (style) in prehistory. These early tools were simple, usually made with one or a few flakes chipped off with another stone. Oldowan tools were used during the Lower Paleolithic period, 2.6 million years ago up until at least 1.7 million years ago, by ancient Hominins (early humans) across much of Africa. This technological industry was followed by the more sophisticated Acheulean industry (two sites associated with ''Homo erectus'' at Gona in the Afar Region of Ethiopia dating from 1.5 and 1.26 million years ago have both Oldowan and Acheulean tools). The term ''Oldowan'' is taken from the site of Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, where the first Oldowan stone tools were discovered by the archaeologist Louis Leakey in the 1930s. However, some contemporary archaeologists and palaeoanthropologists prefer to use the term ''Mode 1'' tools to designate pebble tool industries (including Oldowan), with ''Mode 2' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mindel Glaciation
The Mindel glaciation (german: Mindel-Kaltzeit, also ''Mindel-Glazial'', ''Mindel-Komplex'' or, colloquially, ''Mindel-Eiszeit'') is the third youngest glacial stage in the Alps. Its name was coined by Albrecht Penck and Eduard Brückner, who named it after the Swabian river, the Mindel. The Mindel glacial occurred in the Middle Pleistocene; it was preceded by the Haslach-Mindel interglacial (often regarded as part of Günz) and succeeded by the Mindel-Riss interglacial ( Holstein interglacial). The Mindel glaciation is commonly correlated to the Elster glaciation of northern Europe. The more precise timing is controversial since Mindel is commonly correlated to two different marine isotope stages, MIS 12 (478–424 thousand years ago) and MIS 10 (374–337 thousand years ago). This ambiguity is much related to the correlation problem described in more detail in the article ' Elster glaciation'. See also * Timeline of glaciation *Glaciology Glaciology (; ) is the sci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gunz Glaciation
Gunz, Günz or Gunz Complex is a timespan in the glacial history of the Alps. It started approximately one million years ago and ended about 370 000 years ago. Some sources put the end at 480 000 years ago. Deep sea core samples have identified approximately 5 glacial cycles of varying intensity during Gunz. History of the term The name Gunz glaciation, Gunzian glaciation or Günz glacial stage (german: Günz-Kaltzeit, also ''Günz-Glazial'', ''Günz-Komplex'' and ''Günz-Eiszeit'') goes back to Albrecht Penck and Eduard Brückner, who named this ice age after the River Günz in their multi-volume work, ''Die Alpen im Eiszeitalter'' ("The Alps in the Ice Age Period") which was published between 1901 and 1909. Its type region is the Iller-Lech Plateau. It is the oldest glaciation of the Pleistocene in the traditional, quadripartite glacial classification of the Alps. The Günz was thought to follow the Danube-Günz interglacial and was ended by the Günz-Haslach interglacial. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cromerian Stage
The Cromerian Stage or Cromerian Complex, also called the Cromerian (german: Cromerium), is a stage in the Pleistocene glacial history of north-western Europe, mostly occurring more than half a million years ago. It is named after the East Anglian town of Cromer in Great Britain where interglacial deposits that accumulated during part of this stage were first discovered. The stratotype for this interglacial is the Cromer Forest Bed situated at the bottom of the coastal cliff near West Runton. The Cromerian stage preceded the Anglian and Elsterian glacials and show an absence of glacial deposits in western Europe, which led to the historical terms Cromerian interglacial and the Cromerian warm period (german: Kromer-Warmzeit). It is now known that the Cromerian consisted of multiple glacial and interglacial periods. Chronology The core of the Cromerian is the first half of the Middle Pleistocene stage (Ionian) approximately 800-500 ka ago, just before the Anglian glaciation. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middle Pleistocene
The Chibanian, widely known by its previous designation of Middle Pleistocene, is an Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale or a Stage (stratigraphy), stage in chronostratigraphy, being a division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. The Chibanian name was officially ratified in January 2020. It is currently estimated to span the time between 0.770 annum, Ma (770,000 years ago) and 0.126 Ma (126,000 years ago), also expressed as 770–126 ka. It includes the transition in palaeoanthropology from the Lower Palaeolithic, Lower to the Middle Palaeolithic over 300 ka. The Chibanian is preceded by the Calabrian (stage), Calabrian and succeeded by the proposed Tarantian. The beginning of the Chibanian is the Brunhes–Matuyama reversal, when the Earth's magnetic field last underwent reversal. It ends with the onset of the Eemian interglacial period (Marine Isotope Stage 5). The term Middle Pleistocene was in use as a provisional or "quasi-fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
