Hypertrophic ‘giant’ handaxes are a rare component of Acheulean assemblages, yet have been central to debates relating to the social, cognitive and cultural ‘meaning’ of these enigmatic tools. The authors examine giant handaxes from the perspective of the British record and suggest that they are chronologically patterned, with the great majority originating from contexts broadly associated with Marine Isotope Stage 9. Giant handaxes tend to have higher symmetry than non-giants, and extravagant forms, such as ficrons, are better represented; they may therefore be linked to incipient aesthetic sensibilities and, potentially, to changing cognition at the transition between the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic.

Bright apple green millimeter-sized crystals of tavorite from the Tip Top pegmatite, near Custer, South Dakota are triclinic, space group , with refined unit-cell parameters a = 5.340(2), b = 7.283(2), c = 5.110(2)Å, α = 109.29(2)°, β = 97.86(3)°, γ = 106.32(3)°, V = 174.1(3)Å3, a:b:c = 0.7332:1:0.7016, Z = 2, D(m) (suspension in methylene iodide) = 3.32(1) and D(x) = 3.33 g/cm3 (for the theoretical formula). A fully indexed X-ray powder pattern is presented. Semiquantitative electron microprobe and secondary ion mass spectroscopic analyses indicate a formula near end-member LiFe + 3(PO4)(OH). The Tip Top tavorite is biaxial positive, α = 1.795(5), β = 1.81(1), γ = 1.86(1), 2V(meas.) = 50(2)°, 2V(calc.) = 59°, XΛa ≃ 15°, YΛb ≃ 0°, and ZΛc ≃ 38°. There is no evidence for optical absorption, pleochroism or dispersion.