The Acheulean is a stone tool tradition of the Lower Palaeolithic, named after the site of Saint-Acheul near Amiens in France, where such tools were first described in the nineteenth century. It is best known for the handaxe, a teardrop-shaped tool flaked on both faces, which was probably used for cutting, scraping and digging. The earliest Acheulean tools come from East Africa, and the tradition spread with early humans such as Homo erectus into Europe and Asia. It lasted for well over a million years, which makes it the longest-lived technology in human history. It was gradually replaced by more varied tools made with the prepared-core method.
Before and after
- from about 3.3 million years ago to 15,000 years agoPaleolithic
- from about 3.3 million years ago to 302,000 years agoLower Paleolithic
- about 2.7 million years agoGreat American Interchange
- about 2.6 million years agoOldowan
- from about 1.76 million years ago to 150,000 years agoAcheulean
- from about 315,000 years ago to 33,000 years agoMousterian
- from about 302,000 years ago to 32,000 years agoMiddle Paleolithic
- from about 115,000 years ago to 10th millennium BCELast Glacial Period
- about 75,100 years agoSymbolic engraving at Blombos Cave
More in Evolution & life
- about 66 million years agoCretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction
- about 33.9 million years agoEocene–Oligocene extinction event
- about 7 million years agoSahelanthropus, one of the earliest hominins
- from c. 3,300 BCE to 600 BCEBronze Age
- from 3rd millennium BCE to 2nd millenniumMaya civilization
- from 13th century BCE to 6th centuryAncient Greece
The era
This moment belongs to the Cenozoic (66 million years ago to 300,000 years ago), the rise of mammals and the ice ages.