ID

Acheulian Handaxe

FOUND

Exposed Site - Sahara Desert, 
NW Africa

AGE

ACHEULIAN: 1.2 million - 500,000 years

SIZE

6.7" long x 3.5" wide

CONDITION

INTACT AND COMPLETE - NO REPAIR
OR RESTORATION.  

NOTE

CHOICE SPECIMEN OF AN AFRICAN
ACHEULIAN HAND AXE.  BEAUTIFUL
CONDITION AND WORKMANSHIP!

Actual Item - One Only

Comes with a certificate of 
authenticity / information sheet

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ACHEULIAN TOOLS

This quartzite handaxe was made and used by early humans of the primitive species Homo erectus (ergaster).  It was surface-collected from an exposed Acheulian site in the Sahara Desert of North Africa.  This Lower Paleolithic tool represents the first intelligent design type known to science that was made by primitive humans.  Prior to these Saharan Acheulian handaxes, only crude pebble and flake tools existed in the human fossil record.

This is a MUSEUM-GRADE example of an uncommon Acheulian handaxe form known as a ELONGATE BIFACIAL handaxe.  The flaked proximal end has recessed areas for the thumb and fingers, when held.  The entire axe is perfect as made with an intact and undamaged blade chopping edge. 

During the time of this axe, there were large elephant species and giraffe species in Africa that primitive humans would have hunted.  An axe like this was necessary to butcher such large kills.  This example shows the most superb flaking and execution of this form.  The surface shows a "desert varnish" - a natural glossy surface caused by the exposure of the stone to the blowing sands over hundreds of thousands of years.   The two-tone patina on either side is a testament to its age and authenticity from laying untouched and exposed on one side for hundreds of millennia.  Tip and edges are intact.  In "as found" ORIGINAL condition with NO REPAIR AND NO RESTORATION.  Tip is not broken from recent damage or mishandling and is in perfect original form.