Lower Paleolithic

• Lower Paleolithic 2.5 million till 300 thousand years ago. Schick and Toth 2007. 
• Climate. Quaternary period with periodic glaciations. 
• Tool culture : Core tool tradition - Oldowan and acheulian tools, tools like handaxe, cleaver, Scrapers - Made by hammer on technique. Lawrence Keeley showed, handaxe were good for animal butchery, shaping wood and digging. Found in Africa Europe and West Asia. 
• Africa - Oldowan tools by homo habilis and A. garhi. 2.5 to 1.7mya. changing diet from omnivorous to carnivorous scavenging due to dry climate and Savannah. In Europe - abbevillian which split into clactonian flake tradition and acheulian hand axe tradition. 
• Acheulian tools 1.5 million till 1 million years ago. Associated with homo erectus because as they're uniform and standardized - unlike Oldowan tools. Oldest from peninj river Tanzania 1.5 mya. 
• Human evolution 
• H. erectus/ H. ergaster (1.8 million years ago). moved from scavenging to hunting and hunting gathering. 
• Home erectus found in all areas of old world but tool traditions differ from west to east. Like bifacial hand axe, cleaver and pick not found in eastern and southeast Asia. Yamaei 2000. 
• H. heidelbergensis (600 kya), H. rhodesiensis etc 
• Culture 
• Big game - elephants stags oxen- hunting. Ambrona spain. FC Howell. Cooperative activity. 
• Use of Fire for cooking. Heating. Predator away. Evidence - 800 kya Israel gesher benot. 
• campsites close to much vegetation, water resources and herbivores. 
• Religion and rituals. Red ochre remains found in lower paleolithic sites. Dickson 1990. But unclear if home erectus buried there dead. 
• Art. Engraved bone found in Oldisleben. R. Bednarik 2006. 
• Regional variation 
• Europe clacton-on-sea and Terra Mata, France prominent. Abbevillian and Acheulian cultures found. 
• East Africa. Oldwan gorge - chopper chopping tools.
• India. Attirampakkam and Soan. 

Lower Palaeolithic ended 300,000 years ago when technology and social structure became complex with emergence of Homo sapiens. Oldest fossil Morocco jebel irhoud 2018 Science.