Inter-continental Variation in Acheulean Bifaces

Abstract

This chapter uses euclidean distance measurements of biface length, width and thickness to assess inter-continental variability in Acheulean biface morphology. Assemblages from eastern Asia and the Arabian peninsula are tested for their similarity to Acheulean assemblages in eastern Africa and the Indian sub-continent. Our expectation that the Arabian bifaces are part of the Acheulean tradition is confirmed. On the basis of metric ratios we conclude that the bifaces from Imjin and Hantan river basins in Korea and the Bose basin in China, are not part of the Acheulean tradition, suggesting independent development of bifacial forms. However the bifaces from the Luonan basin in China do resemble those of the Acheulean, indicating that there may have been intermittent dispersals of populations ­manufacturing Acheulean bifaces into eastern Asia.