Uniformity and diversity in handaxe shape at the end of the Acheulean in southwest Asia

Abstract

This study examines parameters, causes, and spatio-temporal patterns of handaxe shape variation from Tabun cave in the Levant, and Khall Amayshan 4B and Khabb Musayyib in northern Arabia. These assemblages span the range of most pointy to most rounded handaxes found anywhere during the Acheulean. The AGMT3D program is used to conduct high resolution geometric morphometric analysis of handaxe form from 3D models. Shape variation is tested against blank type, allometry, and reduction intensity. None of these factors appears to be a strong influence, but there are significant assemblage-wise differences in form, suggesting the different shapes were intentionally produced. The analysis quantifies a pattern of high diversity in the assemblages from Tabun versus low diversity in the shorter occupations at the Arabian sites. We suggest possible explanations of emerging specificity in utilitarian functions, as well as the manifestation of social identities in artefacts at the end of the Acheulean.