Symmetry is its own reward: on the character and significance of Acheulean handaxe symmetry in the Middle Pleistocene. (24th April 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: White, Mark; Foulds, Frederick
• Is Part Of: Antiquity. Volume 92:Number 362(2018)
• Page Start: 304
• Page End: 319
• Publication Date: 2018-04-24
• Subjects: Great Britain, -- Palaeolithic, -- handaxes, -- symmetry, -- pleasure-reward; Archaeology -- Periodicals; Antiquities -- Periodicals; 930.05
• DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2018.35
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0003-598X

Abstract

Abstract: 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.