Israeli and Greek archaeologists have found that ancient stone tool technology did not spread across Europe as a fixed, unchanging method. Instead, it evolved through a combination of shared knowledge and local adaptation by early human groups.
The study challenges the assumption that similar prehistoric tools necessarily indicate either direct copying or coincidence. Rather, it suggests that technological knowledge traveled with early humans but was reshaped locally according to available raw materials, landscape conditions and individual choices. This model helps explain how a single stone toolmaking tradition could persist for more than a million years across Africa, Asia and Europe without remaining static.
Researchers from the University of Haifa and the University of Crete examined stone tools from the Rodafnidia archaeological site near the village of Lisvori on the island of Lesbos. Their findings indicate that the tools were not simply copied from methods used in the Levant, but instead reflect a blend of shared technological knowledge and distinct local craftsmanship in the Aegean region.
“Stone tools are not just objects left over from the past, but evidence of the decisions, preferences and ways of acting of ancient people,” said Dr. Gadi Herzlinger of the University of Haifa, one of the study’s authors. “When we measure and compare them systematically, we can begin to reconstruct not only how tools were made, but also how technological knowledge moved between regions and how it changed along the way.”
The research focuses on the Acheulean tradition, one of the earliest, most widespread and longest-lasting stone tool industries in human history. Known for large implements such as hand axes and cleavers, Acheulean technology was used across Africa, Asia and Europe for hundreds of thousands of years. Its wide distribution presents a long-standing challenge for researchers, who debate whether similarities between sites reflect population movement, knowledge transfer or independent invention.
Herzlinger, from the School of Archaeology and Maritime Civilizations and the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa, collaborated with Professor Nena Galanidou of the University of Crete. They studied large cutting tools—mainly hand axes and cleavers—recovered at Rodafnidia through excavation and survey. The site, located near the Lisvori hot springs and facing Anatolia, lies along a corridor that may have connected western Asia, the Aegean and southeastern Europe in prehistory.
The team created 3D digital models of the tools at the University of Haifa’s archaeology and cultural heritage laboratory and compared them with Acheulean assemblages from sites in the Levant, including Ubeidiya, Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, Ma’ayan Baruch, Holon and Nahal Hesi, all of which are in Israel.
The Rodafnidia assemblage showed strong internal consistency, with toolmakers primarily using locally available stone to produce large cutting implements with relatively limited shaping.
However, comparison with Levantine sites revealed no exact match to any single known tradition. The hand axes resembled those from later Acheulean phases in the Levant, while also retaining features associated with earlier periods. The cleavers, meanwhile, differed more significantly in symmetry, edge shape and level of refinement from those found at Gesher Benot Ya’aqov.
“It is precisely the combination of similarity and difference that is the important finding here,” the researchers said. “The similarity shows that the tools from Rodafnidia belong to a broad and familiar technological world, but the differences show that this knowledge was not simply copied. It was adapted locally, depending on raw materials, landscape and the choices of the toolmakers.”
The findings were published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory.
