Levallois technique

The Levallois technique is a way of making stone tools that early humans and Neanderthals used during the Stone Age. It was often used to create Mousterian stone tools. 

The Levallois technique produces a tool that is a planned shape and size. Archaeologists call it a Mode 3 technology, meaning that it is one step more sophisticated than the earlier Acheulean tool-making industry.Foley, Robert; Lahr, Marta Mirazón (1997). "Mode 3 technologies and the evolution of modern humans". Cambridge Archaeological Journal. 7 (1): 3–36. doi:10.1017/s0959774300001451. S2CID 163040120. 

It is named after Levallois-Perret, a suburb of Paris, France where 19th-century archaeologists found flint tools. 

 Timeline 
Not everybody started using the Levallois technique at once. It developed independently in different places.Adler, D. S.; et al. (2014). "Early Levallois technology and the Lower to Middle Paleolithic transition in the Southern Caucasus". Science. 345 (6204): 1609–1613. Bibcode:2014Sci...345.1609A. doi:10.1126/science.1256484. PMID 25258079. S2CID 10266660.

Humans began using this technique around 250,000 to 400,000 years ago during the Middle Palaeolithic period.Shipton, C. (2022). Predetermined Refinement: The Earliest Levallois of the Kapthurin Formation. *Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology*, 5, 4. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41982-021-00109-1 Neanderthals used it in Europe, while early modern humans used it in other regions, like the Levant.Higham, Tom (2021). The World Before Us: How Science is Revealing a New Story of Our Human Origins. Penguin Viking. pp. 35–36. ISBN 978-0-241-44067-4. 

The Levallois technique gradually replaced the simpler Acheulian tool industry in much of Europe during the Third Interglacial period and continued into the Fourth Glacial period.

The use of this technique continued until around 40,000 BC.

 Technique 
The Levallois technique is a type of prepared-core technology. In fact, it is the earliest widespread example of this technology. 

The Levallois technique produces a tool of a planned size and shape. With this technique, flintknappers first envisioned the size and shape of the tool they wanted to make. Then they prepared a flint stone core by striking off flakes and making it a specific shape. Then they struck off a final flake. This flake would have the planned shape, because of the way the core was prepared first. This shows evidence of abstract thought, planning, and foresight.

Teaching the Levallois technique is complicated. Some scientists think the tool-makers had to have language in order to communicate this complex knowledge. Others disagree. A 1977 study that proved modern humans could learn the Levallois technique non-verbally about as quickly as they could with verbal instructions.Lycett, S.J.; von Cramon-Taubadel, N. (2013). "A 3D morphometric analysis of surface geometry in Levallois cores: patterns of stability and variability across regions and their implications". Journal of Archaeological Science. 40 (3): 1508–1517. Bibcode:2013JArSc..40.1508L. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2012.11.005.Ohnuma, Katsuhiko; Aoki, Kenichi; Akazawa, And Takeru (1997). "Transmission of Tool-making Through Verbal and Non-verbal Communication: Preliminary Experiments in Levallois Flake Production". Anthropological Science. 105 (3): 159–168. doi:10.1537/ase.105.159.

 Related pages 

 Mousterian
 Homo
 Stone Age

 References 

 See also 

 Examples of tools made with the Levallois technique