Getting a Handle on Technological Complexity in the Acheulean: Hand-axes Make Excellent High-Energy Hafted Woodworking Tools

Reconstructing human behavioural complexity from stone tools is a primary concern for the Palaeolithic archaeologist. Two nested challenges exist in this reconstruction. Firstly, inferring the technical processes and bodies of knowledge, which combine with tools to make ‘technology’. Secondly, human technology is uniquely combinatorial, with stone tools possibly part of a more complex tool. The organic elements of such a tool, such as handles and bindings are, however, not preserved. The emergence of combinatorial technology is poorly understood, with a focus on stone points as armatures, characteristic of post-Acheulean periods leading to limited consideration of it within the Acheulean. Using experimental archaeology, here we demonstrate that hafted Acheulean type hand-axes make excellent high-energy woodworking tools. Many features of refined Acheulean hand-axes, including symmetry and thinness, aid in hafting. Having a sharp perimeter all around the tool aids in socket axe production and does not affect hafting with bindings in an adze type arrangement. These experiments raise the possibility of combinatorial technology in the Acheulean (1.7 to 0.2 ma), highlighting the potential hidden technological complexity, which a simple Acheulean hand-axe may represent.