| Summary: | Hypertrophic ‘giant’ handaxes are a rare component of Acheulean assemblages, yet have been central to debates relating to the social, cognitive and cultural ‘meaning’ of these enigmatic tools. The authors examine giant handaxes from the perspective of the British record and suggest that they are chronologically patterned, with the great majority originating from contexts broadly associated with Marine Isotope Stage 9. Giant handaxes tend to have higher symmetry than non-giants, and extravagant forms, such as ficrons, are better represented; they may therefore be linked to incipient aesthetic sensibilities and, potentially, to changing cognition at the transition between the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic.
The majority of giant handaxes are from sites in the Thames Valley and its southern tributaries, although they are also found in the river deposits of the Norfolk Yare, the Solent and at Broom in the Axe Valley, Devon. Giants in the Broom assemblage occur in proportions comparable to the other sites in the study. However, most of the handaxes from this site are of Upper Greensand chert rather than flint, and show a higher proportion of ovate and asymmetrical forms. |
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