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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0PLOS One

Random walks in handaxe knapping before 1.2 million years ago in East Africa at Melka Kunture (Upper Awash, Ethiopia)

  • Eduardo Méndez-Quintas1
  • Rita T. Melis2
  • Flavio Altamura3
  • Patricia Bello-Alonso4
  • Andrea Serodio Domínguez5
  • Adugna Debalike Belayneh6
  • Riccardo Salvini7
  • Giuliano Ambrosetti8
  • Margherita Mussi9
9 affiliations
  1. 1Grupo de Estudos de Arqueoloxía, Antigüidade e Territorio (GEAAT), University of Vigo, Facultade de Historia, Ourense, Spain
  2. 2UNIARQ – Centre for Archaeology, School of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
  3. 3IDEA, Instituto de Evolución en África, University of Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
  4. 4Italo-Spanish Archaeological Mission at Melka Kunture and Balchit, Rome, Italy
  5. 5Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche e Geologiche, Università di Cagliari, Monserrato, Italy
  6. 6CNR-IGAG, Institute of Environmental Geology and Geoengineering, Rome, Italy
  7. 7Forschungsstation Schöningen, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Schöningen, Germany
  8. 8Inter-University Graduate School of Human Evolution, University of Burgos, Burgos, Spain
  9. 9Ethiopian Heritage Authority, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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Abstract

A long-standing objective in Acheulean research is defining evolutionary trends in handaxe production over time. This study investigates technological and morphological variability in the Early Acheulean by analysing three geographically and chronologically proximate assemblages (>1.2 million years ago) from Melka Kunture (Upper Awash, Ethiopia). Combined techno-typological and geometric morphometric analyses reveal significant variability in handaxe morphology, shaping strategies and raw material selection. The observed dissimilarity suggests that Acheulean handaxe manufacture did not follow a linear path of standardisation. Rather, it demonstrates considerable flexibility, reflecting hominins’ responses to varying constraints and immediate needs within short timeframes.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{mendezquintas2026random,
  title = {{Random walks in handaxe knapping before 1.2 million years ago in East Africa at Melka Kunture (Upper Awash, Ethiopia)}},
  author = {Eduardo Méndez-Quintas and Rita T. Melis and Flavio Altamura and Patricia Bello-Alonso and Andrea Serodio Domínguez and Adugna Debalike Belayneh and Riccardo Salvini and Giuliano Ambrosetti and Margherita Mussi},
  journal = {PLOS One},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0357880},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0357880},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Random walks in handaxe knapping before 1.2 million years ago in East Africa at Melka Kunture (Upper Awash, Ethiopia)
AU  - Eduardo Méndez-Quintas
AU  - Rita T. Melis
AU  - Flavio Altamura
AU  - Patricia Bello-Alonso
AU  - Andrea Serodio Domínguez
AU  - Adugna Debalike Belayneh
AU  - Riccardo Salvini
AU  - Giuliano Ambrosetti
AU  - Margherita Mussi
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/24
JO  - PLOS One
DO  - 10.1371/journal.pone.0357880
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0357880
AB  - A long-standing objective in Acheulean research is defining evolutionary trends in handaxe production over time. This study investigates technological and morphological variability in the Early Acheulean by analysing three geographically and chronologically proximate assemblages (>1.2 million years ago) from Melka Kunture (Upper Awash, Ethiopia). Combined techno-typological and geometric morphometric analyses reveal significant variability in handaxe morphology, shaping strategies and raw material selection. The observed dissimilarity suggests that Acheulean handaxe manufacture did not follow a linear path of standardisation. Rather, it demonstrates considerable flexibility, reflecting hominins’ responses to varying constraints and immediate needs within short timeframes.
SN  - 1932-6203
ER  -