title: The Acheulean handaxe: More like a bird's song than a beatles' tune?
abstract: The goal of this paper is to provoke debate about the nature of an iconic artifact-the Acheulean handaxe. Specifically, we want to initiate a conversation about whether or not they are cultural objects. The vast majority of archeologists assume that the behaviors involved in the production of handaxes were acquired by social learning and that handaxes are therefore cultural. We will argue that this assumption is not warranted on the basis of the available evidence and that an alternative hypothesis should be given serious consideration. This alternative hypothesis is that the form of Acheulean handaxes was at least partly under genetic control.
authors.forename: Raymond
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Corbey
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jagich
authors.forename: Krist
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vaesen
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Collard
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001106:Archaeology; D001717:Birds; D005580:Fossils; D005602:France; D049690:History, Ancient; D015186:Hominidae; D006801:Humans; D053001:Tool Use Behavior
keywords: Acheulean handaxe; cultural transmission; genetic transmission; social learning