the relationship between bifaces - handaxes - and elephas

What is it about?

an engineering evaluation of how the acheulean biface could have been used to obtain elephas resources. This use, a structured placement model, is reflected in the archaeology in terms of numbers, soils (sands and gravels), biface-rich and poor sites. The spread of bifaces also matches the spread of Paleoloxodon.

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Why is it important?

This model offers an explanation of some of the "oddities" linked to bifaces and also why they reappear in the record at much later dates in N Europe, again, linked to the arrival of elephas (mammoth). The suggested use may also indicate a totemic behaviour: the extra attention to detail and craftsmanship being a form of prey "attraction".