RT Book, Section
T1 Bifacial Shaping at the TK Acheulean Site (Bed II, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania): New Excavations 50 Years After Mary Leakey
A1 Santonja, Manuel
A1 Rubio Jara, Susana
A1 Panera Gallego, Joaquín
A1 Pérez González, Alfredo José
A1 Rojas Mendoza, Raquel
A1 Domínguez Rodrigo, Manuel
A1 Mabulla, Audax
A1 Baquedano, Enrique
A2 Gallotti, Rosalia
A2 Mussi, Margherita
AB This paper presents a detailed analysis of the bifacial shaping and the spatial distribution of 85 bifaces recorded in an area of 51.9 m2 on the Lower Floor of the TK site, located alongside the Trench I excavated by M. Leakey in 1963.The repeated use of shaping schemes and patterns demonstrates that the knappers who produced these tools had a good command of the concept of bifacial reduction. These processes were adapted differently to fit the characteristics  of the exploited raw material. Formal similarities observed among the handaxes seem to reflect preconceived formal schemes, i.e., mental templates. The presence of handaxe fragments and preforms shows that they were knapped at the site with the aim of being used right there. This tool assemblage was later abandoned without the site having undergone any major alterations after its formation. This command of the bifacial shaping concept observed at the TK site, dated to ca. 1.353 ± 0.035 Ma, undermines the validity of M. Leakey’s distinction between an early and a middle phase of the Acheulean techno-complex.
PB Springer
SN 978-3-319-75983-8
YR 2018
FD 2018
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/101457
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/101457
LA eng
NO Santonja, Manuel, Susana Rubio-Jara, Joaquín Panera, Alfredo Pérez-González, Raquel Rojas-Mendoza, Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo, Audax Z. P. Mabulla, y Enrique Baquedano. «Bifacial Shaping at the TK Acheulean Site (Bed II, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania): New Excavations 50 Years After Mary Leakey». En The Emergence of the Acheulean in East Africa and Beyond, editado por Rosalia Gallotti y Margherita Mussi, 153-81. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75985-2_8.
DS Docta Complutense
RD 4 abr 2025