2016
DOI: 10.1002/evan.21467
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The acheulean handaxe: More like a bird's song than a beatles' tune?

Abstract: The goal of this paper is to provoke debate about the nature of an iconic artifact—the Acheulean handaxe. Specifically, we want to initiate a conversation about whether or not they are cultural objects. The vast majority of archeologists assume that the behaviors involved in the production of handaxes were acquired by social learning and that handaxes are therefore cultural. We will argue that this assumption is not warranted on the basis of the available evidence and that an alternative hypothesis should be g… Show more

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Cited by 99 publications
(82 citation statements)
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“…Current evidence indicates a role for social learning, but genetic influences are also plausible since they have not been ruled out for behavioral variants among chimpanzee communities even where some degree of social learning is known to occur [13,14]. Comparison with patrilineal relationships will eventually afford a test of genetic influences.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Current evidence indicates a role for social learning, but genetic influences are also plausible since they have not been ruled out for behavioral variants among chimpanzee communities even where some degree of social learning is known to occur [13,14]. Comparison with patrilineal relationships will eventually afford a test of genetic influences.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Much of this fascination has to do with our perception of these objects as intentionally 'well-made', 'symmetric', or indeed 'beautiful' [4], and hence, as an index of the hominins' aesthetic appreciation [5] and cognitive [6,7] abilities. The idea that handaxe symmetry and shape standardization not only serve a particular purpose , be it utilitarian or social-symbolic, but also that this property gradually improves with time can be traced back to de Mortillet [8] and was reprised in turn by Bordes, Roe and many others [9–12].…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…We argue that there is multi‐scalar variability in the handaxe record and that this variability has been fundamentally simplified and misrepresented by Corbey et al's macro‐scale perspective. They maintain that handaxes are conservative in form and, drawing on the results of Kempe, Lycett, and Mesoudi, argue that they do not meet the range of variability that would be expected from an artifact that is influenced through cultural interplays: “Given that copying error would inevitably have occurred if individuals had acquired the behaviors required to produce handaxes via social learning, this supports the idea that handaxes were not fully cultural artifacts and may have been under at least partial genetic control.” :9…”
Section: How Variable Are Acheulean Handaxes?mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Off the back of these arguments, Corbey et al suggest that the conservative Acheulean handaxe was primarily the result of genetic transmission rather than cultural transmission models: “Raw material selection, the manufacturing process, and basic design principles would have been under genetic control, but fine‐tuned through social learning.” :14 Put another way, Corbey et al are of the opinion that there should be more variability in handaxes than there is because different environments should have generated different solutions. In addition, groups of handaxe makers ought to have generated more variability than they did because social learning between generations involves the accumulation of copying errors.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%