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Rediscovery and the cognitive aspects of toolmaking: Lessons from the handaxe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2003

William H. Calvin
William H. Calvin
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1800 WCalvin@U.Washington.edu http://faculty.washington.edu/wcalvin
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Abstract

Long before signs of staged toolmaking appeared, Homo erectus made symmetrical tools. The handaxe is a flattened tear-drop shape, but often with edges sharpened all around. Before we assign their obsession with symmetry to an aesthetic judgment, we must consider whether it is possible that the symmetry is simply very pragmatic for one particular use in the many suggested.

Type
Brief Report
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , June 2002 , pp. 403 - 404
Copyright
© 2002 Cambridge University Press

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