AT THE EDGE: ACHEULEAN IN THE MIDDLE OF EUROPE - Svoboda - 2018

Whereas Africa clearly represents the core area of the Acheulean, Eurasia was occupied by this technocomplex only partly. In present-day Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland the Acheulean creates a kind of eastern-exposed "peninsula" of the southwest European centers. Within the loess stratigraphies, patterns of prepared core technology first occured as early as MIS 10 (Horky nad Jizerou) and individual Acheulean tool-types may possibly date to MIS 7 and 6 (Letky nad Vltavou, Předmostí?), but large and complex Acheulean assemblages originate from surface surveys only (Bečov II, IV, Stvolínky I–II). The Early Acheulean (with individual bifaces in context of various pebble and flake industries) is scarcely represented but wide-spread over central Europe, whereas the Evolved Acheulean (with Levallois technology) is more coherent, more dependent on certain raw materials (quartzite/flint) and its boundaries are more distinct. The paper also mentions the discrepancy between paleogeography of Acheulean techno/typology and the fossil human record.

Keywords

Acheulean – Eastern Central Europe – Raw Materials – Technology – Typology – Human Expansion

DOI

https://doi.org/10.26720/anthro.17.09.19.1

Full text (PDF)

Export citation

Related articles