EP Gallery: Middle Acheulian -- Olorgesailie, Olduvai Gorge, Near East, Abbevillian (c. 1.0 MYA to 500,000 BP) / s)latamne11

Comment: In the Near East Middle Acheulian, at sites such as Joub Jannine II and Latamne (Syria), the handaxe and pick are the predominate bifaces in contrast to handaxe and cleaver in East African sites.

The Latamne archaeological horizon lay in the mid-sequence of the Latamne Formation. The Formation has a single TL date of 560,000 BP; the proposed date for the horizon is 500,000-700,000 BP. Most bifaces are made by hard hammer, a few indicate occasional soft hammer. Bifaces are lanceolate with a few trihedral picks. (Bar-Yosef 1998:248-251).

Image Credit: J. D. Clark. (1969). The middle acheulian occupation site at Latamne, northern Syria. Quaternaria 10, 1-73. Image from Bar-Yosef, O. (1998). Early colonizations and cultural continuities in the Lower Palaeolithic of western Asia. In Early human behaviour in global context: The rise and diversity ofthe Lower Palaeolithic record, Petraglia, M and Korisettar, R. (eds.), 221-279. New York: Routledge: fig 8.11.