Journal
QUATERNARY INTERNATIONAL
Volume 406, Issue -, Pages 227-238Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2015.01.033
Keywords
Acheulian; Handaxes; Bifaces; Bone tools; Elephants; Cosmology and Symbolism
Ask authors/readers for more resources
In this study, we examine Lower Paleolithic archaeological assemblages that contain bifaces (handaxes) made of elephant bones from Africa, Europe, and the Levant. The aims of this paper are to summarize the available evidence of elephant bone tools manufacturing in the Acheulian, and to analyze patterns of elephant bone tool industry compared to stone tool industries and other taxa bone industries. We will focus on the association between stone and elephant bone bifaces at several Acheulian sites, and will present a new perspective on the connections between bifaces made of the two materials at these sites. Based on the long-term interaction between humans and elephants in Paleolithic times, the human dependence on elephant meat and fat for survival, and many lines of resemblance between elephants and humans, we propose that Lower Paleolithic elephant bone bifaces were not manufactured solely for functional purposes, and suggest that there were some cosmological, cultural and symbolic properties reflected in the production of Acheulian bifaces from elephant bones. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available