Comments on: Lithic Assemblage Dated to 1.57 Million Years Found at Lézignan-la-Cébe, Southern France

By: Giorgio Chelidonio

Giorgio Chelidonio — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 07:52:27 +0000

Quartzite tools are often difficult to detect from geofacts, much more than flint or chert artifacts (although vitreous stones’ geofacts are also produced by stream flowing conditions). Moreover, different styles in drawing artifacts (or geofacts) lead to a personal interpretation of the objetcs. Neverthless 1,57 MA stone tools seem to be compatible with current paleo-scenaries and need better attention

By: onyx

onyx — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:38:44 +0000

dont agree more modern then oldowan. more shapes and more shaping, higher nr of flakes removed per pebble. ancient tho, well you can’t expect real oldowan in europe, and these froms immediatly follow that to persist for 100′s k’s of years.

By: terryt

terryt — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 09:11:42 +0000

“Definately Olduwan tool technology not Acheulean”.

Thanks. I thought so. The Acheulean is an early example of a technology that failed to reach marginal areas of the contemporary human geographic distribution. Much the same as blade technology, microlithic technology and even the whole Upper Paleolithic. We’re standing on shakey ground when we associate specific technolgies with specific human species.

By: Four Stone Hearth #83 – The Avatar Edition [The Primate Diaries] « Random Information

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:18:46 +0000

[...] Anthropology.net describes the latest discovery of a "Lithic Assemblage Dated to 1.57 Million Years Found at Lézignan-la-Cébe, Southern France". [...]

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 01:51:38 +0000

Definately Olduwan tool technology not Acheulean. Looks like core tools, amorphous cores, expedient flake tool behavior. Same as Olduwan, or even older Lower Paleolithic stuff.

By: terryt

terryt — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 02:07:15 +0000

Those Homo erectus certainly got around rapidly once they’d left Africa. Spread from Western Europe to Northeast Asia and even way down into SE Asia.

“From the description given, the tools from Lézignan-la-Cébe appear to correspond to the Acheulean industry”

I don’t think so. I thought hand-axes were diagnostic of Acheulean. No hand-axes evident in this assemblage. Hand-axes seem to be a more recent development and spread through just part of the H. erectus geographic range.