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MOUSTERIAN LARGE FLINT SIDE SCRAPER AND NOTCH - Dordogne (Village of Plazac), France MIDDLE PALEOLITHIC PERIOD (MOUSTERIAN): 80,000 - 40,000 years ago This rare stone prehistoric tool was fashioned by Neanderthals over 40,000 years ago out of flint and discovered in the world famous region of Dordogne, France, considered to be the "Capitol of Prehistory". The site this specimen was excavated from is now closed and protected by the government. This rare artifact was legally collected with the landowner's permission decades ago before the area was sealed. Dordogne is one of the world's most famous Neanderthal regions and the fact that this archeological site is off-limits to any collecting, makes this wonderful stone tool artifact exceedingly rare and desirable! This is a large flake tool compared to typical smaller Neanderthal tools. It is a notch made on a large side scraper. Notch and denticulate tools are amongst the most commonly occurring tools in the Middle Paleolithic Period along with scrapers. As members of the Mousterian Denticulate tool group, notches and denticulates include broad variations of the design. More specifically, a NOTCH can be made with a single blow to a flake near an edge or by a series of blows to hollow out a concavity. This concave cutting edge is then used to create smooth round surfaces on a rod of bone, wood or ivory, for example. This tool was made by the former method with a strong blow to the center of the scraper edge. The inner region of the concavity shows signs of use wear to evidence that this is simply not a damaged scraper. This tool was discovered in a rock shelter with other tools and some broken fossil animal bones, mostly likely fractured for the prized marrow inside, a valuable Neanderthal food source. Intact original surface sediment along with cortex is still in place. A superb and large example from this famous site! NO RESTORATION, REPAIR OR MODERN DAMAGE. Our fortunate purchase of a very old private collection from the original excavator allows us to offer this artifact at a price WELL BELOW ITS BOOK VALUE. The MOUSTERIAN tool tradition gets its name from artifacts discovered at a primitive rock shelter named Le Moustier located in southwestern France. Compared to the bulkier tools of the Acheulian produced by the Levallois technique, Mousterian tools are comprised of smaller flakes from an exhaustively worked core which are then retouched on the edges to make a large variety of tools. These tools are not only smaller than Acheulian specimens, but they are more specialized for their various tasks. Mousterian tools can be broadly put into four classes: 1) SAWS (Denticulate Tools) and KNIVES, 2) SCRAPERS 3) BORERS 4) HANDAXES, CHOPPERS and CLEAVERS. Mousterian tool-makers were the primitive humans knows as the NEANDERTHALS. Neanderthals had massive skeletons and teeth, flat foreheads and heavy brow ridges. Their skulls were larger than a modern man and contained an average brain capacity of 1500 cc, averaging slightly larger than humans of today. SUPERB OLD NEANDERTHAL TOOL OF VERY LARGE PROPORTIONS! 2.7" in length $275 M088 INCLUDES DISPLAY BOX Actual Item - One Only |
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