摘要：The present study concerns Acheulian assemblages from Pniel and Sheppard Island collected by Breuil in the late 1920s from the Lower Vaal River Valley, South Africa. In the context of recent studies of some earlier collected series and new field work in this region, the present technotypological analysis contributes to the current topic of understanding better the South African Acheulian. Most of the unretouched debitage products and all the big cores of the large tool blanks are missing from these assemblages (mainly composed of handaxes and cleavers) hampering the reconstruction of the complete chaîne opératoire. Local volcanic or metamorphic outcrops as well as Vaal River gravels provided the raw materials. The large majority of the identifiable flakes are short (side struck) for both handaxes’ and cleavers’ blanks. The studied assemblages match the regional technical traits with the presence of a few large flakes produced by the Kombewa or Victoria West (in its earliest stages of development) method. Shaping appears more important in Pniel than in Sheppard Island. In the absence of stratified and datable finds in this region and as sites get lost due to erosional activities, studies on such old collections assume importance.
关键词：Vaal River Valley; Acheulian; Victoria West method.
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