Levallois prepared-core technique
Técnica Levallois (núcleos preparados, Modo 3)
- Date
- c. 300 ka · confidence medium
- Place
- Kapthurin Formation, Baringo, Kenya (and Nor Geghi 1, Armenia)
- Credited to
- Homo heidelbergensis, archaic Homo sapiens and Neanderthals
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Careful preparation of a core to strike off a flake of predetermined shape in a single blow. It requires planning several stages before obtaining the final product.
It appears independently and almost simultaneously in Africa, the Levant, Europe and the Caucasus (Nor Geghi 1, 325 ka), suggesting convergent evolution from the handaxe.
What it led to
- Efficient production of standardised points and flakes for hafting
- Higher yield per kilo of raw material: less dependence on outcrops
- Evidence of multi-stage planning capacity analogous to syntax
Built on
- Acheulean handaxe (Mode 2)c. 1,76 Ma
- Acheulean handaxe (Mode 2)