Ambrona revisited: The Acheulean lithic industry in the Lower Stratigraphic Complex

The whole lithic assemblage comprises 728 items. We shall analyze the chaînes opératoires evidenced in each of the five identified levels, according to the raw materials used. Tools made on flake include very specialized types, but retouching is usually not intense; tool-maintenance processes are barely documented. The knapping methods used were mainly discoidal, bifacial and multipolar. Except for a few local limestone items, the knapped stones found at Ambrona (quartz, quartzite and limestone) were brought to the site, sometimes from dozens of kilometers away. The study of this collection confirms its attribution to the Acheulean techno-complex, with its characteristic handaxes and cleavers.