Bordes’ typology has been in use for many years and is widely applied in studies of Early and Middle Palaeolithic stone tools, especially in vocabulary and typological classification in shaping artefacts (mainly flake tools and handaxes). However, over the years, this method has received different critiques, especially regarding the arbitrariness and subjectivism in the definition and classification of some artefacts. The application of geometric morphometric methods (2D or 3D) on the study of stone tools is starting to become widespread. These methodological approaches are highly suitable for measuring patterns in shape change between artefact groups, which would be impossible to establish with more “traditional” methods. This paper aims to analyse the accuracy and reliability of the main types of handaxes established by Bordes, by performing different methods of Geometric Morphometric Analysis. The evidence from this study suggests that a large percentage of the handaxe types noted by Bordes is reliable and correlates with statistically significant changes in shape and only a small percentage of forms have no geometric morphometric significance. Likewise, these findings support the suitability of Geometric Morphometric Analysis on lithic artefact assemblages focusing on the measurement and classification by shape changes.

Bordes的类型学已沿用多年，广泛应用于旧石器时代早期和中期石器的研究，特别是在成型文物（主要是片状工具和手斧）的词汇和类型分类方面。然而，多年来，这种方法受到了不同的批评，特别是关于一些文物的定义和分类的任意性和主观性。几何形态测量方法（2D 或 3D）在石器研究中的应用开始变得普遍。这些方法学方法非常适用于测量人工制品组之间形状变化的模式，这是不可能用更“传统”的方法建立的。本文旨在分析 Bordes 建立的主要手斧类型的准确性和可靠性，通过执行几何形态分析的不同方法。这项研究的证据表明，Bordes 指出的大部分手斧类型是可靠的，并且与具有统计学意义的形状变化相关，并且只有一小部分形式没有几何形态学意义。同样，这些发现支持对石器人工制品组合进行几何形态计量分析的适用性，重点是通过形状变化进行测量和分类。