Acheulean Pick
Working hard materials
Acheulean
In Europe, 800 000 to 300 000 years
Typical picks are a type of heavily elongated biface with a thick, more or less quandrangular or sometimes trihedral cross-section
F. Bordes, Typologie du Paléolithique ancien et moyen, Delmas, Bordeaux, 1961
Commentary :
Acheulean stone tool assemblages are dominated by heavy tools shaped on both surfaces. Among these, picks are robust tools with a point made by direct percussion with a pebble. Relatively simple to make, the tool’s pointed end enables it to work materials such as bone or wood, by percussion.
This versatile tool reflects the technical adaptations of Homo erectus groups to exploit their environment. The pick is just as effective for butchering carcasses as it is for digging up plants containing edible larvae.