Product Description
ID
|
Acheulian Tool
|
||
FOUND
|
Exposed Site - Sahara Desert,
|
||
AGE
|
ACHEULIAN: 1.2 million - 500,000 years
|
||
SIZE
|
4" long x 2.75" wide
|
||
CONDITION
|
INTACT AND COMPLETE.
|
||
NOTE
|
SMALL, CLASSIC ACHEULIAN
|
||
Actual Item - One Only
|
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ACHEULIAN TOOLS
This is a small, excellent shape BIFACIAL HAND AXE of the Acheulian Tradition, made out of quartzite. It displays typical, well-made Acheulian flaking technology. The flat proximal end fits well against the palm when held. The sharp tip is original and as it was made hundreds of thousands of years ago. 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. Original sediment and some mineral encrustations are still present in microscopic crevices and cracks - a trait ONLY found in authentic Paleolithic artifacts like these. Tip and edges are intact with remarkable detail in the flaking on the edges. In "as found" ORIGINAL condition with NO REPAIR AND NO RESTORATION.
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.