Small Flake Acheulian: Further Insights into Lithic Recycling at Late Acheulian Revadim, Israel

Abstract

The multi-layered Lower Paleolithic Late Acheulian site of Revadim has yielded rich lithic assemblages, including dozens of handaxes. These lithic assemblages are for the most part dominated by flake-production technologies and flake tools, as is the rule of thumb at many other Acheulian localities. This study presents the results of an analysis of Layer C3 at Revadim, focusing on several newly-explored aspects of the production of small, sharp flakes by means of lithic recycling. We present definitions of new typo-technological categories of cores-on-flakes and the small flakes produced from cores-on- flakes. We also present a typo-technological analysis of the tool types detected in the Layer C3 assemblage and provide an analysis of the degree of homogeneity of the flint types used for the manufacture of these small, sharp flakes. Our results demonstrate that the technological repertoire of Late Acheulian hominins was more complex than is commonly acknowledged, and that production of small flakes was an integral component within Lower Paleolithic technologies and activities.