fbpx
Wikipedia

Abbevillian

February 20, 2024

Abbevillian (formerly also Chellean) is a term for the oldest lithic industry found in Europe, dated to between roughly 600,000 and 400,000 years ago.

Abbevillian biface flake from the Douro river region near Valladolid, Spain. It is unretouched and is not distinguishable from Olduwan. The one small spot of smaller flaking on one edge may indicate that it is borderline between Olduwan and Acheulean. Both are found in Europe.

The original artifacts were collected from road construction sites on the Somme river near Abbeville by a French customs officer, Boucher de Perthes. He published his findings in 1836. Subsequently, Louis Laurent Gabriel de Mortillet (1821–1898), professor of prehistoric anthropology at the School of Anthropology in Paris, published (1882) "Le Prehistorique, antiquité de l'homme", in which he was the first to characterize periods by the name of a site.

Chellean included artifacts discovered at the town of Chelles, a suburb of Paris. They are similar to those found at Abbeville. Later anthropologists substituted Abbevillian for Chellean, the latter of which is no longer in use.

Abbevillian tool users were the first archaic humans in Europe, classified as either late Homo erectus[1] as Homo antecessor or as Homo heidelbergensis.

History edit

The label Abbevillian prevailed until the Leakey family discovered older (yet similar) artifacts at Olduvai Gorge (a.k.a. Oldupai Gorge), starting in 1959, and promoted the African origin of man.[2] Olduwan (or Oldowan) soon replaced Abbevillian in describing African and Asian paleoliths. The term Abbevillian is still used, but it is now restricted to Europe. The label, however, continues to lose popularity as a scientific designation.

Mortillet had portrayed his traditions as chronologically sequential. In the Abbevillian, early Palaeolithic hominins used cores; in the Acheulian, flakes. Olduwan tools, however, indicate that in the earliest Palaeolithic, the distinction between flake and core is less clear. Consequently, there also is a tendency to view Abbevillian as an early phase of Acheulian.

Provenience of the type edit

The Abbevillian type site is on the 150-foot terrace of the River Somme.[3] Tools found there are rough chipped bifacial handaxes made during the Elsterian Stage of the Pleistocene Ice Age, which covered central Europe between 478,000 and 424,000 years ago.

The Abbevillian is a phase of Olduwan that occurred in Europe near, but not at, the end of the Lower Palaeolithic (2.5 mya. – 2,500,000 years ago). Those who adopt the Abbevillian scheme refer to it as the middle Acheulian, about 600,000-500,000 years ago. Geologically it occurred in the Middle Pleistocene, younger than about 700,000 years ago.[3] It spanned the Günz-Mindel interglacial period between the Günz and the Mindel, but more recent finds of the East Anglian Palaeolithic push the date back into the Günz, closer to the 700,000 ya mark.[nb 1]

The Abbevillian culture bearers are not believed to have evolved in Europe, but to have entered it from further east. It was thus preceded by the earlier Olduwan of Homo erectus, and the Upper Acheulian, of which Clactonian and Tayacian are considered phases, supplanted it. The Acheulian there went on into the Levalloisian and Mousterian are associated with Neanderthal man.

Abbevillian sites in Europe edit

To avoid the question of what culture name should be used to describe European artifacts, some, such as Schick and Toth, refer to "non-handaxe" and "handaxe" sites.[4] Handaxes came into use at about the 500,000 ya mark.[nb 2] Non-handaxe sites are often the same sites as handaxe sites, the difference being one of time, or, if geographically different, have no discernible spatial pattern. The physical evidence is summarized in the table below Note that the dates assigned vary widely after 700,000 ya and, except where substantiated by scientific methods, should be viewed as tentative and on the speculative side.

Site Notes
Arago Cave near the village of Tautavel in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France. A community of about 100 individuals discovered over the years in the ongoing excavations of the cave by a team of the Centre Européen de Recherches Préhistoriques de Tautavel under the direction of Henry de Lumley. Excavations began in 1964, the first mandible came to light in 1969, and the first "Tautavel Man" in 1971, though in fact many subsequent Tautavel men and women appeared. The date range is a fairly secure 690,000-300,000 years ago by many methods. The prevailing view is that the fossils are intermediary to the Neanderthals. Tools were found as well.[citation needed]
Barnfield Pit near Swanscombe in Kent, England Portions of a skull excavated from a gravel pit by Alvin T. Marston in 1935-36 along with handaxes and animal bones. Two more pieces and some charcoal were found in 1955 by John Wymer. Estimated date 250,000 ya.[citation needed]
Boxgrove, outside Chichester, Great Britain. Shin bone & two teeth found in 1994 and 1996 in a quarry, with butchered animal bones and handaxes, ca. 500,000 ya.[citation needed]
Mauer near Heidelberg, Germany Mauer 1 (lower jaw & tooth) discovered 1907 in a gravel pit.[5] Dated to 600,000-250,000 ya.[citation needed]
Petralona cave in Chalcidice, Greece. Skull found in a cave with animal bones, stone tools and evidence of fire in 1960. Studied by Aris Poulianos, given various dates. ESR date range is 240,000-160,000, but all other fossils associated indicate a much older date circa 800,000.[6][7][8]
Sima de los huesos, "pit of bones", a chimney site in a cave, one of many fossil hominin sites in the hills of Atapuerca, Castile-Leon, Spain About 4,000 Hominin bones from which about 30 individuals have been reconstructed since the mid-1970s. Bones of carnivores are mixed in and a handaxe was found in 1998. Date is 500,000-350,000 ya.[citation needed]
Steinheim an der Murr, north of Stuttgart, Germany. Skull found in 1933[9] by Karl Sigrist, currently dated to about 250,000 ya.[citation needed]
Vértesszőlős,
Vértesszőlős,
near Budapest 		Occipital bone and a few teeth excavated 1964-65 in a quarry site that was in the open and used for butchery by László Vértes. Human fossils were with a hearth, dwelling, tools, footprints, plant and animal fossils.[citation needed]

Notes edit

  1. ^ An important point to remember is that tool-makers advanced at different rates throughout the globe. For example, the style of tool-making that is called Abbevillian was practiced at a different time period in Africa than in Europe.
  2. ^ Acheulean or later Acheulean, dated to 500,000-100,000 ya.

Footnotes edit

  1. ^ Rohrer 1983, p. 1 "While the type is identified as Homo erectus, there are modifications that suggest it is filling a gap between Homo erectus and the Neanderthal."
  2. ^ Daniel 1973, p. 105
  3. ^ a b Hoiberg 2010, p. 11
  4. ^ Schick & Toth 1993[page needed]
  5. ^ Cohen 1998, p. 1920
  6. ^ Kurtén 1983, p. 58
  7. ^ Poulianos 1983[page needed]
  8. ^ Cohen 1998a, p. 2418
  9. ^ Cohen 1998b, p. 3020

References edit

  • Cohen, Saul B., ed. (1998). "Mauer". The Columbia Gazetteer of the World. Vol. 2: H to O. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-11040-2. LCCN 98071262.
  • Cohen, Saul B., ed. (1998a). "Petralona Cave". The Columbia Gazetteer of the World. Vol. 3: P to Z. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-11040-2. LCCN 98071262.
  • Cohen, Saul B., ed. (1998b). "Steinheim an der Murr". The Columbia Gazetteer of the World. Vol. 3: P to Z. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-11040-2. LCCN 98071262.
  • Daniel, Glyn (1973). Gillispie, Charles Coulston (ed.). Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. VIII: Jonathon Homer Lane - Pierre Joseph Macquer. New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 978-0-684-10119-4. LCCN 69018090. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  • Hoiberg, Dale H., ed. (2010). "Abbevillian". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1: A-ak Bayes (15th ed.). Chicago, IL: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. ISBN 978-1-5933-9837-8. LCCN 2008934270.
  • Kurtén, Björn (1983). (PDF). Anthropos. 10: 53–59. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2012-02-25.
  • Poulianos, N. Aris (December 1983). "Faunal and Tool Distribution in the Layers of Petralona Cave". Journal of Human Evolution. 12 (8): 743–746. doi:10.1016/S0047-2484(83)80129-8.
  • Rohrer, George W. (Winter 1983). "The First Settlers in France" (PDF). Old World Archaeologist: 1–9. (PDF) from the original on 2016-03-03.
  • Schick, Kathy Diane; Toth, Nicholas (1993). Making Silent Stones Speak: Human Evolution and the Dawn of Technology. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-69371-8. LCCN 92035337.

See also edit

Further reading edit

  • Hennig, G. J.; Herr, W.; Weber, E.; Xirotiris, N. I. (August 6, 1981). "ESR-Dating of the Fossil Hominid Cranium from Petralona Cave, Greece". Nature. 292 (5823): 533–536. Bibcode:1981Natur.292..533H. doi:10.1038/292533a0. S2CID 4359695.
  • Wintle, A. G. (July 14, 1983). "Hominid Evolution: Dating Tautavel Man". Nature. 304 (5922): 118–119. Bibcode:1983Natur.304..118W. doi:10.1038/304118b0. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 6408487. S2CID 4276118.

External links edit

  • The Abbevillian Culture 2010-12-17 at the Wayback Machine, section in a pdf document. Search on Abbevillian.
  • . This site presents the view that Olduwan and Abbevillian are phases of the Acheulean.

February 20, 2024
abbevillian, formerly, also, chellean, term, oldest, lithic, industry, found, europe, dated, between, roughly, years, biface, flake, from, douro, river, region, near, valladolid, spain, unretouched, distinguishable, from, olduwan, small, spot, smaller, flaking. Abbevillian formerly also Chellean is a term for the oldest lithic industry found in Europe dated to between roughly 600 000 and 400 000 years ago Abbevillian biface flake from the Douro river region near Valladolid Spain It is unretouched and is not distinguishable from Olduwan The one small spot of smaller flaking on one edge may indicate that it is borderline between Olduwan and Acheulean Both are found in Europe The original artifacts were collected from road construction sites on the Somme river near Abbeville by a French customs officer Boucher de Perthes He published his findings in 1836 Subsequently Louis Laurent Gabriel de Mortillet 1821 1898 professor of prehistoric anthropology at the School of Anthropology in Paris published 1882 Le Prehistorique antiquite de l homme in which he was the first to characterize periods by the name of a site Chellean included artifacts discovered at the town of Chelles a suburb of Paris They are similar to those found at Abbeville Later anthropologists substituted Abbevillian for Chellean the latter of which is no longer in use Abbevillian tool users were the first archaic humans in Europe classified as either late Homo erectus 1 as Homo antecessor or as Homo heidelbergensis Contents 1 History 2 Provenience of the type 3 Abbevillian sites in Europe 4 Notes 5 Footnotes 6 References 7 See also 8 Further reading 9 External linksHistory editThe label Abbevillian prevailed until the Leakey family discovered older yet similar artifacts at Olduvai Gorge a k a Oldupai Gorge starting in 1959 and promoted the African origin of man 2 Olduwan or Oldowan soon replaced Abbevillian in describing African and Asian paleoliths The term Abbevillian is still used but it is now restricted to Europe The label however continues to lose popularity as a scientific designation Mortillet had portrayed his traditions as chronologically sequential In the Abbevillian early Palaeolithic hominins used cores in the Acheulian flakes Olduwan tools however indicate that in the earliest Palaeolithic the distinction between flake and core is less clear Consequently there also is a tendency to view Abbevillian as an early phase of Acheulian Provenience of the type editThe Abbevillian type site is on the 150 foot terrace of the River Somme 3 Tools found there are rough chipped bifacial handaxes made during the Elsterian Stage of the Pleistocene Ice Age which covered central Europe between 478 000 and 424 000 years ago The Abbevillian is a phase of Olduwan that occurred in Europe near but not at the end of the Lower Palaeolithic 2 5 mya 2 500 000 years ago Those who adopt the Abbevillian scheme refer to it as the middle Acheulian about 600 000 500 000 years ago Geologically it occurred in the Middle Pleistocene younger than about 700 000 years ago 3 It spanned the Gunz Mindel interglacial period between the Gunz and the Mindel but more recent finds of the East Anglian Palaeolithic push the date back into the Gunz closer to the 700 000 ya mark nb 1 The Abbevillian culture bearers are not believed to have evolved in Europe but to have entered it from further east It was thus preceded by the earlier Olduwan of Homo erectus and the Upper Acheulian of which Clactonian and Tayacian are considered phases supplanted it The Acheulian there went on into the Levalloisian and Mousterian are associated with Neanderthal man Abbevillian sites in Europe editTo avoid the question of what culture name should be used to describe European artifacts some such as Schick and Toth refer to non handaxe and handaxe sites 4 Handaxes came into use at about the 500 000 ya mark nb 2 Non handaxe sites are often the same sites as handaxe sites the difference being one of time or if geographically different have no discernible spatial pattern The physical evidence is summarized in the table below Note that the dates assigned vary widely after 700 000 ya and except where substantiated by scientific methods should be viewed as tentative and on the speculative side Site NotesArago Cave near the village of Tautavel in the Languedoc Roussillon region of France A community of about 100 individuals discovered over the years in the ongoing excavations of the cave by a team of the Centre Europeen de Recherches Prehistoriques de Tautavel under the direction of Henry de Lumley Excavations began in 1964 the first mandible came to light in 1969 and the first Tautavel Man in 1971 though in fact many subsequent Tautavel men and women appeared The date range is a fairly secure 690 000 300 000 years ago by many methods The prevailing view is that the fossils are intermediary to the Neanderthals Tools were found as well citation needed Barnfield Pit near Swanscombe in Kent England Portions of a skull excavated from a gravel pit by Alvin T Marston in 1935 36 along with handaxes and animal bones Two more pieces and some charcoal were found in 1955 by John Wymer Estimated date 250 000 ya citation needed Boxgrove outside Chichester Great Britain Shin bone amp two teeth found in 1994 and 1996 in a quarry with butchered animal bones and handaxes ca 500 000 ya citation needed Mauer near Heidelberg Germany Mauer 1 lower jaw amp tooth discovered 1907 in a gravel pit 5 Dated to 600 000 250 000 ya citation needed Petralona cave in Chalcidice Greece Skull found in a cave with animal bones stone tools and evidence of fire in 1960 Studied by Aris Poulianos given various dates ESR date range is 240 000 160 000 but all other fossils associated indicate a much older date circa 800 000 6 7 8 Sima de los huesos pit of bones a chimney site in a cave one of many fossil hominin sites in the hills of Atapuerca Castile Leon Spain About 4 000 Hominin bones from which about 30 individuals have been reconstructed since the mid 1970s Bones of carnivores are mixed in and a handaxe was found in 1998 Date is 500 000 350 000 ya citation needed Steinheim an der Murr north of Stuttgart Germany Skull found in 1933 9 by Karl Sigrist currently dated to about 250 000 ya citation needed Vertesszolos Vertesszolos near Budapest Occipital bone and a few teeth excavated 1964 65 in a quarry site that was in the open and used for butchery by Laszlo Vertes Human fossils were with a hearth dwelling tools footprints plant and animal fossils citation needed Notes edit An important point to remember is that tool makers advanced at different rates throughout the globe For example the style of tool making that is called Abbevillian was practiced at a different time period in Africa than in Europe Acheulean or later Acheulean dated to 500 000 100 000 ya Footnotes edit Rohrer 1983 p 1 While the type is identified as Homo erectus there are modifications that suggest it is filling a gap between Homo erectus and the Neanderthal Daniel 1973 p 105 a b Hoiberg 2010 p 11 Schick amp Toth 1993 page needed Cohen 1998 p 1920 Kurten 1983 p 58 Poulianos 1983 page needed Cohen 1998a p 2418 Cohen 1998b p 3020References editCohen Saul B ed 1998 Mauer The Columbia Gazetteer of the World Vol 2 H to O New York NY Columbia University Press ISBN 978 0 231 11040 2 LCCN 98071262 Cohen Saul B ed 1998a Petralona Cave The Columbia Gazetteer of the World Vol 3 P to Z New York NY Columbia University Press ISBN 978 0 231 11040 2 LCCN 98071262 Cohen Saul B ed 1998b Steinheim an der Murr The Columbia Gazetteer of the World Vol 3 P to Z New York NY Columbia University Press ISBN 978 0 231 11040 2 LCCN 98071262 Daniel Glyn 1973 Gillispie Charles Coulston ed Dictionary of Scientific Biography Vol VIII Jonathon Homer Lane Pierre Joseph Macquer New York NY Charles Scribner s Sons ISBN 978 0 684 10119 4 LCCN 69018090 a href Template Cite encyclopedia html title Template Cite encyclopedia cite encyclopedia a Missing or empty title help Hoiberg Dale H ed 2010 Abbevillian Encyclopaedia Britannica Vol 1 A ak Bayes 15th ed Chicago IL Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc ISBN 978 1 5933 9837 8 LCCN 2008934270 Kurten Bjorn 1983 Faunal Sequence in Petralona Cave PDF Anthropos 10 53 59 Archived from the original PDF on 2016 03 03 Retrieved 2012 02 25 Poulianos N Aris December 1983 Faunal and Tool Distribution in the Layers of Petralona Cave Journal of Human Evolution 12 8 743 746 doi 10 1016 S0047 2484 83 80129 8 Rohrer George W Winter 1983 The First Settlers in France PDF Old World Archaeologist 1 9 Archived PDF from the original on 2016 03 03 Schick Kathy Diane Toth Nicholas 1993 Making Silent Stones Speak Human Evolution and the Dawn of Technology New York NY Simon amp Schuster ISBN 978 0 671 69371 8 LCCN 92035337 See also editTimeline of glaciation List of human fossilsFurther reading editHennig G J Herr W Weber E Xirotiris N I August 6 1981 ESR Dating of the Fossil Hominid Cranium from Petralona Cave Greece Nature 292 5823 533 536 Bibcode 1981Natur 292 533H doi 10 1038 292533a0 S2CID 4359695 Wintle A G July 14 1983 Hominid Evolution Dating Tautavel Man Nature 304 5922 118 119 Bibcode 1983Natur 304 118W doi 10 1038 304118b0 ISSN 0028 0836 PMID 6408487 S2CID 4276118 External links editThe Abbevillian Culture Archived 2010 12 17 at the Wayback Machine section in a pdf document Search on Abbevillian Early Palaeolithic This site presents the view that Olduwan and Abbevillian are phases of the Acheulean Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Abbevillian amp oldid 1167599551, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.