Product Description
ID
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Acheulian Hand Axe
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FOUND
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Exposed Site - Sahara Desert, NW Africa
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AGE
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ACHEULIAN: 1.2 million - 500,000 years
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SIZE
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10.2" long x 5" wide
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CONDITION
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INTACT AND COMPLETE. NO REPAIR
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NOTE
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EXTREMELY RARE IN THIS SIZE
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Actual Item - One Only
Comes with a certificate of |
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To date, this is the largest and finest Saharan Acheulian handaxe we have offered since we first went online in the year 2000. At a size WIDER than most African Acheulian hand axes are long! Not only is this monster hand axe in supreme original condition, it shows incredible flaking and form with a CLASSIC angled flat proximal end to fit the hand comfortably. Hand axes HALF this size have sold in auctions for the price we are offering this remarkable specimen. It is as rare as they get and seldom will you find examples of this size, condition and form, ever available for sale.
Made and used by Homo ergaster (African Homo erectus), it was surface-collected from an exposed Acheulian site in the Northern Sahara Desert of North Africa and acquired from an old private French collection. This Lower Paleolithic artifact represents the first intelligent design type known to science that was made by primitive humans. Prior to these Saharan Acheulian tools, only crude pebble tools existed in the human fossil record.
As one of the most beautiful and finest made Lower Paleolithic African handaxes we have ever sold, this remarkably aesthetic Acheulian bifacial TRIANGULAR HAND AXE demonstrates the skill and ability of Early Man to the highest order. Hand axes of this magnitude are theorized to be PRESTIGE PIECES. It certainly warrants being labeled "museum grade". It features every possible aspect of a prize specimen. The flaking is superb and shows masterful craftsmanship from its primitive human creator. Light blushes of orange on one side caused by millennia of this side facing down and absorbing the minerals of the Sahara red sands. Other side shows a different color - a prized and classic example only found in authentic specimens.
This is an investment-grade Paleolithic artfiact. Specimens like this are one in many, many thousands and are exceptionally rare. Collectors consider prized features to include either size, workmanship or color but when ALL exist, then it is truly an important piece to include in a collection as this one is. The vast majority of quartzite tools from this culture and geographical region are made of a homogenous color quartzite.
In "as found" ORIGINAL condition. NO REPAIR and NO RESTORATION. GENUINE Acheulian hand axes of this quality are rare and recent realized prices at major auction houses are proving what we have been saying for years that authentic high grade tools of primitive man remain one of the most promising investments.