Earliest Stone Tools

• Africa, Europe, Asia, 2.6-1.7 million years ago

• Homo habilis, Homo erectus, maybe others (e.g. Australopithecus)

• First persistent, widespread technology

• Cores, flakes, and hammerstones

• Characterized by relatively simple flaking via freehand percussion, whereby cores and hammerstones are held in opposite hands and flakes are removed by striking the hammer against the core

• Production of sharp flakes for use in subsistence activities

• Represents a major ecological and behavioral shift for hominins. Increased reliance on extractive foraging of high-quality resources such as animal tissues and hard to access/process underground storage organs

• Africa, Europe, South/Central Asia, 1.7-0.13 million years ago

• Homo erectus

• Characterized by the appearance of often symmetrical, shaped bifaces, such as handaxes and cleavers, which had been preferentially flaked for a specific end product. This is unlike the Oldowan where the desired end product was merely cutting edge, rather than any particular shape or form of tool. 

• Large bifacial tools served as both cores and tools themselves thus permitting a transportable source of flakes as well as a versatile implement. (aka Stone Age Swiss Army Knife)

• Acheulean is made using freehand percussion similar to the Oldowan, but later, more refined Acheulean includes the use of what is called soft hammer percussion where a softer material such wood or antler is used to detach flakes rather than hard stone. Soft hammer allows the removal of thin yet invasive flakes that help to create thin tools.

• Greater attention to shape and tool form also indicates hominins were more reliant on technology as evidenced by greater time and energy investment.

Appears around the same time as Homo erectus and the more modern human body plan, indicating a range expansion and likely exploitation of a wider breadth of resources, and increased consumption of animal protein and other high quality food stuffs to supply the larger brains and bodies.