A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, 2015. / The progress achieved on research of the different handaxe-bearing regions of China is making the study of the Acheulean an exciting and important field in the Chinese Palaeolithic. However, compared with other well-known Large Cutting Tool or LCT-bearing regions, e.g., Bose in southern China and Luonan in central China, the work in the Danjiangkou Reservoir Region (DRR) is still at the stage of data collection, and deeper research into the meaning of these materials is still under way. In international academic circles, the DRR is almost never considered in the latest discussions about the Chinese Acheulean. The work in this thesis attempts to improve this situation. The thesis is presented as four published papers and one submitted paper of Acheulean materials from the DRR, central China. Through a detailed study of these materials from typological, technological and morphological perspectives, I have now achieved significant understanding of the Acheulean techno-complex in DRR, especially in its regional variability and adaptation compared with other Acheulean regions in China. Lastly, the questions that are still awaiting resolution in the future are also discussed.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Archaeology. Johannesburg, 2015 / Large cutting tools (LCTs) are a stone tool techno-group that appeared ca. 1.76 Ma in Africa and marked the beginning of the Acheulean. The group is conventionally comprised of three tool types called handaxes, cleavers, and picks. The function of LCTs has only been determined through assumptions (e.g., names based on historical antecedents or assigning functional names to morpho-types) or through experimental tasks designed to determine if a particular tool type was efficient for a given task, (e.g., are handaxes conducive to butchery tasks?). To date, no extensive use-wear analysis has been carried out on African Acheulean LCTs. This is the pioneering study. Utilising a multi-stranded approach comprised of experimental archaeology, blind testing and low- power use-wear analysis the functions of a sample of LCTs from The Cave of Hearths were derived. The Cave of Hearths (CoH) lies in the Makapan Valley in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. Excavations were carried out from 1947 to 1954, and it is these excavations from which this study draws its sample. Thirty-eight handaxes and cleavers from the CoH Bed 3 Acheulean (ca. 0.5 Ma) were submitted to a low-power use-wear analysis. The results showed that a full range of tasks was performed on site including: wood- working, animal and vegetal matter processing, accompanied by digging and a number of other tasks. Corroborated by faunal analysis and an environmental reconstruction, the results suggest that the cave acted as a home camp/ residential base to the hominins that inhabited the area during the Acheulean. Additionally, evidence was found which may indicate that two of the tools were possibly hafted. If this finding is corroborated by future studies it would push back by approximately 150 Ka the earliest date previously published for hafting with Mode 3 tools.

No description available.