This article documents an unexpected regional difference in the shapes of later Acheulean handaxes. Almost 1,200 handaxes from 17 sites located in Europe, East Aj?ica, India, and the Near East were measured using a polar coordinate technique and compared using discriminant analysis and analysis of variance. One group of handaxes, those from Israel, clearly stood apart. The reasonsfor this distinction are unclear but may relate to raw material, time, or, perhaps, cultural tradition.HIS ARTICLE ADDRESSES THE QUESTION of whether or not there were significant T regional differences in the shapes of later Acheulean handaxes. Standard textbook knowledge informs us that the Acheulean was remarkably the same throughout its geographic distribution (see Tattersall, Delson, and van Couvering 1988). For example, African handaxes are supposed to be very similar to European and Indian handaxes. It is also well known that handaxes come in a variety of shapes. However, there seemed to be no clear correlation between the various shapes and the geographic regions in which they were found, giving the Acheulean a markedly monotonous flavor.Geographic variation is a characteristic of modern material culture. Its absence in the Acheulean would constitute a dramatic contrast, the understanding of which would be important to the understanding of human cultural evolution. Unfortunately, the few rigorous studies of handaxe variation have all been on a regional level. Isaac (1977) observed that East African sites often present a considerable range of handaxe shapes but that, when several sites were compared, there was no clear directional tendency in time or space. Roe ( 1968), on the other hand, documented a time trend in the shapes of English handaxes. But neither addressed the larger issue of interregional differences. T o our knowledge no one has undertaken a single study that measures and analyzes handaxes from the several regions of the Old World in which they are found.We approached this study with the intention of documenting the homogeneity of handaxe shape. We expected to be unable to identify any significant geographic trend in the shapes of handaxes. As it turns out, at least one significant pattern did emerge.Our sample includes handaxes from four regions: Europe, the Near East, East Africa, and India. The SampleWe chose the sample of sites and artifacts in order to address the question of regional homogeneity. This required selecting a large and diverse sample from each of the regions. Of the thousands of handaxes in museum drawers, very few have been excavated from anything approaching good archeological context. Had we measured only these, we would have risked mistaking idiosyncratic or local group differences for geographic dif-THOMAS WYNN is Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, C O 80933. FORREST TIERSON is Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Universily of Colorado at Colorado Springs. 73 74 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [92, 1990
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