African Archaeological Review, Vol. 22, No. 4, December 2005 ( C© 2006)
DOI: 10.1007/s10437-006-9002-5
Levallois Lithic Technology from the Kapthurin
Formation, Kenya: Acheulian Origin and Middle
Stone Age Diversity
Christian A. Tryon,1,2,5 Sally McBrearty,3 and Pierre-Jean Texier4
Published online: 19 August 2006
The earliest fossils of Homo sapiens are reported from in Africa in association
with both late Acheulian and Middle Stone Age (MSA) artifacts. The relation
between the origin of our species during the later Middle Pleistocene in Africa
and the major archaeological shift marked by the Acheulian-MSA transition is
therefore a key issue in human evolution, but it has thus far suffered from a lack of
detailed comparison. Here we initiate an exploration of differences and similarities
among Middle Pleistocene lithic traditions through examination of Levallois flake
production from a sequence of Acheulian and MSA sites from the Kapthurin
Formation of Kenya dated to ∼ 200–500 ka. Results suggest that MSA Levallois
technology developed from local Acheulian antecedents, and support a mosaic
pattern of lithic technological change across the Acheulian-MSA transition.
Les premiers restes fossiles d’Homo sapiens sont rapporte´s d’Afrique aussi bien
a` des avec des outillages de l’Acheule´en final que du Middle Stone Age (MSA). La
relation entre l’origine de notre espe`ce au Ple´istoce`ne moyen final d’Afrique et le
changement majeur marque´e par la transition Acheule´en-MSA est par conse´quent
un moment cle´ de l’e´volution humaine qui a manque´ jusqu’ici d’analyses compar-
atives de´taille´es. Nous nous proposons ici de commencer a` explorer les diffe´rences
et les similarite´s qui peuvent se faire jour au Ple´istoce`ne moyen dans les traditions
1Human Origins Program, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smith-
sonian Institution, MS-112, Washington, DC 20560-0112, USA.
2Department of Anthropology, George Washington University, 2110 G St. NW, Washington, DC
20052, USA.
3Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA.
4Centre d’ ´Etudes Pre´histoire, Antiquite´ et Moyen ˆAges (UMR-6130, CNRS), 250 rue A. Einstein,
06560, Sophia-Antipolis, France.
5To whom correspondence should be addressed at Human Origins Program, Department of Anthro-
pology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, MS-112, Washington, DC
20560-0112, USA; e-mail: tryonc@si.edu.
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0263-0338/05/1200-0199/1 C© 2006 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.

200 Tryon, McBrearty, and Texier
techniques a` l’examen des productions a` e´clats Levallois, dans une se´quence de
sites acheule´ens et MSA de la formation de Kapthurin (Kenya), date´e de 200–
500 ka. Les resultants obtenus sugge`rent que la technologie Levallois MSA s’est
de´veloppe´e sur ce substrat acheule´en et renforce cette perception que l’on peut
avoir d’une mosaı¨que de changements technologiques jalonnant la transition
Acheule´en-MSA.
KEY WORDS: Levallois; Kapthurin Formation; Acheulian; Middle Stone Age; transition.
INTRODUCTION
Levallois flakes and cores are a defining feature of many Middle Paleolithic
and Middle Stone Age (MSA) sites throughout Europe, parts of Asia, and Africa.
However, the origin, or more likely, origins, of Levallois technology remains
obscure. Continental-scale comparisons have suggested sporadic appearances and
different regional trajectories in the development of Levallois flake production
strategies (Rolland, 1995). These include the transformation of Acheulian
bifaces into cores, seen in some French, Levantine, and northeast African sites
(Caton-Thompson, 1946; DeBono and Goren-Inbar, 2001; Tuffreau, 2004), and
an elaboration of existing, simpler strategies for the production of small flakes
at some English sites (White and Ashton, 2003). Economizing behaviors related
to changing mobility strategies, raw material conservation, and the need for flake
blanks of specific shapes have all been suggested as causes for the adoption of
Levallois methods of flaking (e.g., Brantingham and Kuhn, 2001; Chazan, 2000;
Dibble, 1997; White and Pettitt, 1995). Throughout most of Africa, Levallois flake
production apparently developed from existing Acheulian traditions of the manu-
facture of large blanks for handaxes and cleavers (e.g., Clark and Kurashina, 1979;
Biberson, 1961; Dauvois, 1981; Isaac, 1977; McBrearty, 2001; Texier, 1996a;
Toth, 2001; Van Riet Lowe, 1945; see also Madsen and Goren-Inbar, 2004).
Cleavers are by definition large flake tools characterized by unretouched distal
ends, whose production may require careful prior preparation of the core. Many
of the earliest examples of Levallois technology in Africa are for the production of
cleavers, suggesting a conceptual link between cleaver production and the devel-
opment of Levallois flake manufacture in Africa (Alimen and Zuate y Zuber, 1978;
Clark, 2001b; Dauvois, 1981; Inizan et al., 1999; Roche and Texier, 1995; Tixier,
1957).
Our goal here is to clarify the origin and development of Levallois methods
of flake production in Africa. Recent studies at primarily European and Levan-
tine sites have demonstrated substantial variability within the Middle Paleolithic
flake production systems encompassed by the Levallois concept (see papers in
Dibble and Bar-Yosef, 1995), but comparable studies are largely lacking for most
of the African continent (but see Chazan, 1995; Hublin et al., 1987; Pleurdeau,