Editing Levallois technique (section)

{{Short description|Distinctive type of stone knapping technique used by ancient humans}}
[[File:Production of points & spearheads from a flint stone core, Levallois technique, Mousterian Culture, Tabun Cave, 250,000-50,000 BP (detail).jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Production of points & spearheads from a flint stone core, Levallois technique, [[Mousterian culture]], [[Tabun Cave]], [[Israel]], 250,000–50,000 BP. [[Israel Museum]]]]
[[File:Levallois Preferencial-Animation.gif|thumb|upright=1.25|The [[Levallois-Perret|Levallois]] technique of flint-[[knapping]]]]

The '''Levallois technique''' ({{IPA|fr|lə.va.lwa|IPA}}) is a name given by [[archaeologist]]s to a distinctive type of stone [[knapping]] developed around 250,000 to 400,000<ref name="Shipton2022">Shipton, C. (2022). Predetermined Refinement: The Earliest Levallois of the Kapthurin Formation. *Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology*, 5, 4. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41982-021-00109-1</ref> years ago during the [[Middle Palaeolithic]] period. It is part of the [[Mousterian]] stone tool industry, and was used by the [[Neanderthal]]s in Europe and by modern humans in other regions such as the [[Levant]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Higham |first=Tom |pages=35–36 |title=The World Before Us: How Science is Revealing a New Story of Our Human Origins |publisher=Penguin Viking |location = |year=2021|isbn=978-0-241-44067-4}}</ref>

It is named after 19th-century finds of [[flint]] tools in the [[Levallois-Perret]] suburb of [[Paris]], France. The technique was more sophisticated than earlier methods of [[lithic reduction]], involving the striking of [[lithic flake]]s from a prepared [[lithic core]]. A [[striking platform]] is formed at one end and then the core's edges are trimmed by flaking off pieces around the outline of the intended lithic flake. This creates a domed shape on the side of the core, known as a [[tortoise]] core, as the various scars and rounded form are reminiscent of a tortoise's shell. When the striking platform is finally hit, a lithic flake separates from the lithic core with a distinctive [[:wikt:plano-convex|plano-convex]] profile and with all of its edges sharpened by the earlier trimming work.

This method provides much greater control over the size and shape of the final flake which would then be employed as a [[Scraper (archaeology)|scraper]] or knife although the technique could also be adapted to produce [[projectile point]]s known as Levallois points. Scientists consider the Levallois complex to be a [[Stone tool#Mode III: The Mousterian Industry|Mode{{nbsp}}3]] technology, as a result of its diachronic variability. This is one level superior to the [[Acheulean]] complex of the [[Lower Paleolithic]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Foley|first1=Robert|last2=Lahr|first2=Marta Mirazón|title=Mode 3 technologies and the evolution of modern humans|journal=Cambridge Archaeological Journal|date=1997|volume=7|issue=1|pages=3–36|doi=10.1017/s0959774300001451|s2cid=163040120 }}</ref>