ABSTRACT
The Acheulian industry has been inadequately known through the collections made from riverine deposits. In sub-Saharan Africa there are obvious difficulties in correlation of local Pleistocene stages with that sequence established even in another nearby region. The evidence from sub-Saharan Africa provides maximum insight into rates of cultural change, composition of artifact assemblages, techniques of manufacture and implement typology, nature of occupation sites, and patterns of livelihood to a greater extent than any other part of the Eastern Hemisphere. The very limited number of localities which preserve Early and Middle Acheulian industry in suitable contexts greatly limits any conclusions about spatial distribution. In sub-Saharan Africa, as in Europe and many other parts of the Eastern Hemisphere, the first studies on the Earlier Stone Age were concentrated in the major river valleys. As in all but the peripheral parts of the Congo Basin and the Horn there is no certain evidence of human occupation of South-West Africa before Late Acheulian times.
