Small tools and the Palaeoloxodon- Homo interaction in the Lower Palaeolithic. The contribution of use-wear analysis

The aim of this paper is to discuss the role played by small chipped stone tools as part of the toolkit of Homo during the Lower Palaeolithic. These apparently negligible small tools may have had an important role on the complex interaction between Homo and Palaeoloxodon antiquus, which may have been masked by the general idea of a “biface- primacy” during the Lower Palaeolithic. Data coming from use-wear analysis are the primary source of this discussion, integrated with the suggestions offered by recent studies based on technological and techno-morpho-functional analyses.