Abstract/Summary

Corbey et al. (2016) have written an interesting and thoughtful paper designed to provoke debate surrounding one of the most important and persistent Stone Age artefacts, the Acheulean handaxe. They challenge the long held notion that the Acheulean handaxe was a product of a cultural landscape influenced through social learning. Instead they suggest the Acheulean handaxe was, in part, under genetic control. Whilst the Corbey et al. paper was an ambitious one with many points of debate included within it, we will focus here on those areas that best match our expertise, namely the nature of Acheulean handaxes and the archaeological record.