Symmetry is its own reward: on the character and significance of Acheulean handaxe symmetry in the Middle Pleistocene

White, M.J.; Foulds, F.W.F.

Abstract

Bilateral symmetry in handaxes has significant implications for hominin cognitive and socio-behavioural evolution. Here the authors show that high levels of symmetry occur in the British Late Middle Pleistocene Acheulean, which they consider to be a deliberate, socially mediated act. Furthermore, they argue that lithic technology in general, and handaxes in particular, were part of a pleasure-reward system linked to dopamine-releasing neurons in the brain. Making handaxes made Acheulean hominins happy, and one particularly pleasing property was symmetry.

Citation

White, M., & Foulds, F. (2018). Symmetry is its own reward: on the character and significance of Acheulean handaxe symmetry in the Middle Pleistocene. Antiquity, 92(362), 304-319. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2018.35

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 28, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Apr 24, 2018
• Publication Date: Apr 24, 2018
• Deposit Date: Sep 27, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: May 3, 2018
• Journal: Antiquity
• Print ISSN: 0003-598X
• Electronic ISSN: 1745-1744
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 92
• Issue: 362
• Pages: 304-319
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2018.35
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1375695