ABSTRACT
The Clactonian was succeeded by the Acheulian Culture, named after the classic site of St Acheul in the Somme Valley. Its basic tool types were of ancient inspiration, first developed around 1½ million years ago in East Africa (12). Typical of them is the ‘handaxe’, a term which, while convenient, is misleading, for handaxes were general, all-purpose tools that must have been used for a wide variety of functions, not merely the hewing of wood. In fact handaxes were so useful that the basic model remained in use, with improvements, for over three quarters of a million years throughout Africa, Europe and Asia.
