HANDAXE ENIGMAS

This article discusses the implications handaxes have for symbolic behavior. After arguing that handaxes were, in fact, intentional products of prehistoric minds, and not simply cores, the article discusses the form-function fallacy, the possible semiotic role of handaxes, the role of rule-governed behavior in handaxe manufacture, and the nature of technological learning. The conclusions are negative: handaxes were not signs, did not require grammar-like rules and did not require symbolic instruction. They would, however, have been consistent with a 'mimetic' culture.