Acheulean, from the French acheuléen after the type site of Saint-Acheul, is an archaeological industry of stone tool manufacture characterized by distinctive oval and pear-shaped "hand-axes" associated with Homo erectus and derived species such as Homo heidelbergensis.

What is the Acheulean tradition?

The name "Acheulean" (ash-you-LEE-un) is taken from the name of a site named Saint-Acheul, near Amiens in northern France, and is used to refer to a range of Lower Paleolithic tool-making traditions found widely across Afro-Eurasia. The typical tool is a general-purpose hand-ax.

What is Acheulean hand AXE?

Acheulean handaxes are large, chipped stone objects which represent the oldest, most common, and longest-used formally-shaped working tool ever made by human beings.