CFEE JOINT SEMINAR: Homogeneity and variability in the Acheulean

SÉMINAIRE / SEMINAR

Homogeneity and variability in the Acheulean.
Old and new research in Garba I (Melka Kunture).

par/by Sol Sánchez-Dehesa Galán

The 1960s and 1970s witnessed new quantitative and morpho-metrical approaches to the study of Acheulean stone tools that were strongly tied to typological concepts and the definition of ‘biface’ technologies. While the presence of distinctive bifacially-flaked, ovate and tear drop-shaped tools still dominates understanding of Acheulean assemblages, it is increasingly clear that traditional approaches frequently fail to account for the true complexity and variability seen within this techno complex.
The classical archaeological complexes are now being revisited from a renewed perspective in order to bring some modern information to bear on these debates and explore the true diversity of Acheulean tool kits.

In this context, Garba I, composed of more than 12 000 lithic artefacts recovered through more than 200 m², constitutes the perfect corpus for this dialogue. Excavated between 1965 and 1975, it is the richest and most unknown site of the Melka Kunture complex.
Dated on the basis of typological criteria between 600 000 and 400 000 y, it is with Isenya and level 7 of Olorgesailie, one of the greatest sites of a handaxes accumulation characteristics of the African Acheulean.
But even if its importance has always been stressed, the archaeological material recovered and the documentation produced during its excavation have never been completely published.

The main goal of this project is to explore an old discussion from a new point of view, and to understand, through the study of lithic material, the human behavior during this period from the individual to the group and from the local to the regional scale.

Sol Sánchez-Dehesa Galán est doctorante en préhistoire à l’Université de Rome (La Sapienza, Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità) et à l’Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense (Laboratoire Préhistoire et Technologie – UMR 7055) /
Sol Sánchez-Dehesa Galán is a PhD student in prehistory at the
University of Rome (La Sapienza, Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità) and the University of Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense (Laboratoire Préhistoire et Technologie – UMR 7055).