Glossary

Acheulean A term referring to an archaeological industry of stone tools, represented by bifacial handaxes, created by hominids in the Lower Palaeolithic across Africa, much of Europe and Asia,

Bifacial technology A special flintknapping technique to manufacture stone tools by sequentially flaking two sides of a block or a large flake. A final produce through this core reduction technique shows extensive flake scars on both sides.

ESR Standing for Electron Spin Resonance, as a spectroscopic technique, for use of dating application, that enables trapped electrons within bones and shells to be measured without the heating that thermoluminescence requires. flake tools Stone tools that were made on flakes removed from a prepared core, and then by retouching or modifying work edge of the flake.

Lithic technology In study of human prehistory, lithic

Technology refers to adaptive behaviors that specifically involve in production and use of stone tools. microblade technology A special flintknapping technique to produce a series of small blades (normally less than 50 cm in length) from specially prepared core such as wedge-shape or boat-shaped core. This lithic technology was invented by modern hunter-gatherers around 30 000 BP, and wildly spread across Northern Asia and Northeast North America.

OSL Standing for Optically Stimulated Luminescence, a dating technique by measuring doses from ionizing radiation (commonly known as radioactive radiation), based on the principle that electrons trapped between the valence and electron band in the crystalline structure of matter. palaeomagnetic dating A dating technique based on the principle of Palaeomagnetism that study the record the Earth’s magnetic field preserved in various magnetic minerals through time.

Palaeolithic Referring to the period of old stone tool cultures created by human beings, also called the ‘Old Stone Age’. It began with the introduction of the first stone tools by hominids such as Homo habilis (around 2 000 000 years ago) and lasted until the introduction of agriculture. pebble-core tools Stone tools that were made on pebble blocks or cores by chopping large flakes off around the edges. Pleistocene Referring to a geologic timescale is the period from 1 800 000 toll 550 years BP, followed by the Holocene epoch of today. The Pleistocene is a period when hominis created archaeological cultures that is usually referred to Palaeolithic. refitting analysis An application of stone tool analytical method that entails attempting to put stone tools and flakes back together again, and provides invaluable information on core reduction procedures and site formation. use-wear analysis An application of stone tool analytical method that examine, under either lower power or high power microscopes, microfractures and abrasions on the working edges of stone tools for determination of tool functions.