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.[1] Archaeologists call it a Mode 3 technology, meaning that it is one step more sophisticated than the earlier Acheulean tool-making industry.[2]
It is named after Levallois-Perret, a suburb of Paris, France where 19th-century archaeologists found flint tools.
Timeline
[change | change source]Not everybody started using the Levallois technique at once. It developed independently in different places.[3]
Humans began using this technique around 250,000 to 400,000 years ago during the Middle Palaeolithic period.[4] Neanderthals used it in Europe, while early modern humans used it in other regions, like the Levant.[5]
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.[6]
The use of this technique continued until around 40,000 BC.[7]
Technique
[change | change source]The Levallois technique is a type of prepared-core technology. In fact, it is the earliest widespread example of this technology.[7]
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.[7] This shows evidence of abstract thought, planning, and foresight.[1]
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.[8][9]
Related pages
[change | change source]References
[change | change source]- 1 2 Sapiens (2017-01-18). "The Revolutionary Genius of Neanderthals". SAPIENS. Retrieved 2025-12-13.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ "Levalloisian stone-flaking technique | Stone Tool Making, Prehistoric Technology & Paleolithic Archaeology | Britannica". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2025-12-13.
- 1 2 3 "Levallois Method". Museum of Stone Tools. Retrieved 2025-12-13.
- ↑ 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.
