European 'Chopper-Choppingtool' (CCC) Tradition

This gallery displays examples of the not-widely-known European ‘Chopper-Chopping Tool’ Tradition (CCC) tools that corresponds to the CCC Symbolizing Tradition. As befits the 500,000 to 100,000 BP time period this is a highly sophisticated tradition using multiple flaking techniques and having some 50 distinct tool types [classification Wouters, Franssen and Kessels (1981)].

The CCC – also called ‘Jabeekian’ after its type site in the Netherlands – uses bipolar, buffer, and double buffer techniques, with many core choppers as well as chopping tools, billhooks, burins, becs, Tayac points, scrapers and tabular rhomboid anvils. There are also ‘protobifaces’ including flake cleavers, ‘handaxes’ and ‘picks’ and rhomboids. While the Acheulian knappers preferred flint and quartzite whenever present to make stone tools, the CCC employed its buffer technique on granite, pegmatite, prophyry, quartz, quartzite, flint, whatever was handy. Lunteren (Ede II) (OIS 7+) and Hamburg-Wittenbergen (OIS 7+) appear to be a later component of CCC, sometimes called ‘Heidelbergian’. The Lunteren people used bipolar and buffer techniques to make primarily core tools with some flake tools and a few protobifaces and true bifaces. They also made flake cleavers, trihedral picks, core choppers, some microchoppers, rhomboids, Tayac points, billhooks, notches, denticulates, and becs. There is a micro-CCC at Lunteran, NL; Crau, France and other sites.

The Jabeekian dates between 200,000 and 500,000 years ago, and considering typological similarities to Bilzingsleben and Arago-Tautavel probably belongs to the Holsteinian OIS 11, c. 400,000 BP [Peeters, H., Musch, J. and Wouters, A. (1988). Les plus anciennes industries des Pays-Bas. L’Anthropologie (Paris): 92,2:583-710].

This gallery hightlights images from a special issue of Archaeologische Berichten on the Jabeekian CCC [Wouters, A., Franssen, C. and Kessels, A. (1981). Typologie van de artefacten van de Chopper Choppingtool Complexen. Archaeologische Berichten 10:19-117. Elst, NL].

Photo © as noted