Acheulean

American  

[uh-shoo-lee-uhn] / əˈʃu li ən /

Or Acheulian

adjective

1. of, relating to, or typical of a Lower Paleolithic culture of the middle Pleistocene Epoch, characterized by large hand axes and cleavers made by the soft hammer technique.

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Etymology

Origin of Acheulean

1890–95; < French acheuléen, named after St. Acheul, N France (Somme) (where remains were found) + -éen, variant of -ien (< Latin -iānus -ian ), originally with nouns ending in -é

Example Sentences

The area documents early Acheulean stone tool industries, shifting animal communities linked to climate change, and multiple phases of hominin presence over hundreds of thousands of years.

From Science Daily • Feb. 7, 2026

These tools require a more sophisticated flaking method than Acheulean types do, including preparing a stone core before striking flakes off it.

From Science Magazine • Apr. 24, 2018

“There were probably long periods of experimentation moving from Acheulean to the Middle Stone Age,” she said.

From Washington Post • Mar. 15, 2018

The earliest dated Acheulean is about 1.75 million years ago from southern Ethiopia and from Lake Turkana in Kenya.

From Scientific American • Aug. 19, 2015

But, on the face of it, the greater refinement of the Acheulean handiwork looks as if it had been literally hammered out by steadfastly following up the Chellean pattern into its further possibilities.

From Progress and History by Marvin, Francis Sydney