Special Issue: Reduction Sequence, Chaîne Opératoire, and Other Methods: The Epistemologies of Different Approaches to Lithic Analysis Approaches for Understanding Flake Production in the African Acheulean

Acheulean lithic technology is comprised of more than handaxes or other large cutting tools. Artifact assemblages from Member 11’ of the Olorgesailie Formation, Kenya, form the basis of our detailed examination of the flake and core component of an Acheulean behavioral system preserved in sediments dating to ~662–625 ka. We contrast what we consider descriptive and explanatory methods of lithic analysis currently in use among researchers studying the African Early Stone Age, and explore here an ‘industry-free,’ attribute-based analysis for the study of raw material economy. For sites from Member 11’ and Member 1 (~990 ka) of the Olorgesailie Formation, we compared the size of transported artifacts, the reduction intensity of flaked pieces, and flake utility (estimated by the ratio of flake cutting edge:thickness). Our results suggest a positive relationship between raw material economy and inferred paleoenvironmental structure, and demonstrate that the analysis of flakes and cores is an important complement to the study of handaxes, cleavers, and other characteristic Acheulean artifacts.