East African 'Cordiform/Cleaver' Tradition / c)isimilahow

Howell (1979:81): "Stone tools at Isimila were made some 75,000 years ago. Their diversity in size, shape and materal suggests each type had its own use. Shown here, from top left to bottom right, are: two handaxes, two cleavers, knife, scraper, "discoid", pick, core scraper, chopper and "spheroid". The handaxes are 11 inches long. Chopper and spheroid are made of quartz; all others, of the mineral mylonite.

Comment: The site of Isimila,Tanzania is now dated c. 260,000 BP.

Note: The 11 inch length of the handaxes matches the standardized length of a set of handaxes from FLK Masek--see preceding two slides.

Howell, F. C. (1979). Isimila: A paleolithic site in Africa. In C. Lamberg-Karlovsky (ed.) Hunters, farmers, and civilizations: Old world archaeology. San Francisco: Freeman. Page 81.