The oldest hand-axes in Europe Export

@article{citeulike:5709841, abstract = {Stone tools are durable reminders of the activities, skills and customs of early humans, and have distinctive morphologies that reflect the development of technological skills during the Pleistocene epoch. In Africa, large cutting tools (hand-axes and bifacial chopping tools) became part of Palaeolithic technology during the Early Pleistocene (1.5 Myr ago)1, 2, 3. However, in Europe this change had not been documented until the Middle Pleistocene (<0.5 Myr ago)4, 5. Here we report dates for two western Mediterranean hand-axe sites that are nearly twice the age of the supposed earliest Acheulian in western Europe. Palaeomagnetic analysis of these two sites in southeastern Spain found reverse polarity magnetozones, showing that hand-axes were already in Europe as early as 0.9 Myr ago. This expanded antiquity for European hand-axe culture supports a wide geographic distribution of Palaeolithic bifacial technology outside of Africa during the Early Pleistocene.}, author = {Scott, Gary R. and Gibert, Luis}, citeulike-article-id = {5709841}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature08214}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature08214}, day = {03}, doi = {10.1038/nature08214}, issn = {0028-0836}, journal = {Nature}, keywords = {200909, europe, industrie-lithique, paleolithique-inferieur}, month = {September}, number = {7260}, pages = {82--85}, posted-at = {2009-09-03 11:23:44}, priority = {2}, publisher = {Nature Publishing Group}, title = {The oldest hand-axes in Europe}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature08214}, volume = {461}, year = {2009} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:5709841 L3 - citeulike-article-id:5709841 N2 - Stone tools are durable reminders of the activities, skills and customs of early humans, and have distinctive morphologies that reflect the development of technological skills during the Pleistocene epoch. In Africa, large cutting tools (hand-axes and bifacial chopping tools) became part of Palaeolithic technology during the Early Pleistocene (1.5 Myr ago)1, 2, 3. However, in Europe this change had not been documented until the Middle Pleistocene (<0.5 Myr ago)4, 5. Here we report dates for two western Mediterranean hand-axe sites that are nearly twice the age of the supposed earliest Acheulian in western Europe. Palaeomagnetic analysis of these two sites in southeastern Spain found reverse polarity magnetozones, showing that hand-axes were already in Europe as early as 0.9 Myr ago. This expanded antiquity for European hand-axe culture supports a wide geographic distribution of Palaeolithic bifacial technology outside of Africa during the Early Pleistocene. IS - 7260 JF - Nature SN - 0028-0836 EP - 85 TI - The oldest hand-axes in Europe PB - Nature Publishing Group VL - 461 SP - 82 KW - 200909 KW - europe KW - industrie-lithique KW - paleolithique-inferieur AU - Scott, Gary AU - Gibert, Luis PY - 2009/09/03/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature08214 ER -