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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.

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


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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 Mar 29, 2024
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

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Copyright Statement
This article has been published in a revised form in Antiquity https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2018.35. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2018.





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