<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> Acheulean (/ əˈʃuːliən /; also Acheulian and Mode II), from the French acheuléen, is an archaeological industry of stone tool manufacture characterized by distinctive oval and pear - shaped "hand - axes" associated with early humans . Acheulean tools were produced during the Lower Palaeolithic era across Africa and much of West Asia, South Asia, and Europe, and are typically found with Homo erectus remains . It is thought that Acheulean technologies first developed in Africa out of the more primitive Oldowan technology as long as 1.76 million years ago, by Homo habilis . Acheulean tools were the dominant technology for the vast majority of human history . </P> <P> The type site for the Acheulean is Saint - Acheul, a suburb of Amiens, the capital of the Somme department in Picardy, where artifacts were found in 1859 . </P>

The most common stone tool type from the acheulean industry is