PreHistoric Art and Civilization by Denis Vialou (1996)

Outline on Pre-Historic Lithic Industries

From Homo habilis to Homo sapiens .........
2.5 Million Years of Technological Evolution

Pre-History and Archaeology Glossary

Excerpts and Definitions and Addendums:

The well-preserved tools of stone starting with the toolkits invented by Homo habilis 2.5 million years ago allow lithic industries to be compared and classified according to their chronology. The first identifiable tools used in this period are the choppers. These are pebbles with a cutting edge obtained by the organized removal of flakes at one end.

This first tool industry was present in Africa over 1.5 million years and was succeeded by the Acheulian cultures of Homo erectus. The all-present tool in this industry was the hand-axe. This and other tools showed the progressive enrichment of the lithic industries of the Lower Paleolithic.

The range of tools of archaic Homo sapiens during the Middle Paleolithic is clearly more diversified than in the Lower Paleolithic. The great Mousterian culture that came after the Acheulian was associated with the Neanderthals and lasted from about 250,000 - 40,000 years ago.

The origins of Cro-Magnon man are located in the Near East among the earlier Mousterian cultures discovered in Palestine especially at Mount Carmel. Homo sapiens sapiens are associated exclusively with the next Aurignacian tradition of the Upper Paleolithic dating from approximately 40,000 years ago ...

The History of the Ancient Near East Electronic Compendium