The history of humanity cannot be reduced to Antiquity or the industrial revolution. For a period of dizzying length, our ancestors shared a unique and fascinating technological culture: the Acheulean. Long reduced to the simple manufacture of stone cutting tools, this archaeological technocomplex has just been redefined by a panel of international experts gathered in Paris. Far from being a detail of evolution, this primordial era actually testifies to a major cognitive upheaval whose true original author still completely escapes science.
An intellectual leap engraved in the rock
Before the Acheulean, the first hominids were content with Oldowan industry. The technique was rudimentary: a stone was smashed to obtain a roughly sharp edge. But a little less than two million years ago, a dazzling technological transition took place in East Africa.
The absolute symbol of this new era is the biface. It’s no longer a question of striking randomly. The prehistoric craftsman had to visualize the finished tool before even starting to carve. He meticulously shaped the rock on both sides to create a perfect symmetrical geometry and a standardized cutting edge. This ability for abstract planning represents a colossal brain evolution compared to earlier species.
Much more than just a toolbox
Recently gathered at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris, around twenty world-renowned researchers concluded that the Acheulean had been misunderstood. Named after the site of Saint-Acheul in France (discovered in 1872), this culture cannot be limited to the simple presence of large bifaces in the earth.
The Acheulean is in reality a vast set of new cultural behaviors. It is the appearance of complex production chains, the hierarchical organization of tasks and a desire to manufacture tools with predefined shapes. Scientists even suggest that this global intellectual maturation was probably closely linked to other revolutions, such as the development of much more advanced group hunting strategies and the domestication of fire.
The great secret of the first craftsman
Building on this technical superiority, Acheulean culture ended up being exported outside Africa to conquer Eurasia. Remains dating back 1.7 million years have been unearthed in India and the Middle East. Europe was colonized later, with remarkable traces left in Spain (900,000 years ago) and in the United Kingdom where blades reached an unprecedented level of perfection 500,000 years ago.
However, a major mystery persists. With a lifespan spanning nearly 1.75 million years, this technology has spanned the ages and been adopted by multiple branches of our family tree. Remains ofThe man stood upd’homo ergasterd’homo predecessor and even Neanderthals were found near these tools. The fossil record being what it is, it is currently impossible for scientists to determine with certainty which link in the human lineage had the genius to design the very first biface.
The study is published in Evolutionary Anthropology.
