ACH247 - ENORMOUS MUSEUM GRADE MASTERPIECE AFRICAN ACHEULEAN HAND AXE FOR LARGE GAME BUTCHERING AND PRESTIGE

Product Description

ID

Acheulian Hand Axe

FOUND

Exposed Site - Sahara Desert, NW Africa

AGE

ACHEULIAN:  1.2 million - 500,000 years

SIZE

10.25" long x 4" wide

CONDITION

INTACT AND COMPLETE.  NO REPAIR
OR RESTORATION.  CHOICE BI-COLOR
PATINA FROM LONG-TERM SURFACE
EXPOSURE ON ONE SIDE.

NOTE

EXTREMELY RARE IN THIS SIZE
AND CONDITION.  FINEST MUSEUM
EXAMPLE OF AN AFRICAN ACHEULIAN
TRIANGULAR BIFACE HANDAXE.  
FANTASTIC FORM, WORKMANSHIP.

Actual Item - One Only

Comes with a certificate of
 authenticity / information sheet

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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.  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 MUCH MORE than 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.  It is of an unusually large size and most definitely was intended to butcher the large game that lived in the region during the Lower Paleolithic (Pleistocene Period).

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.

This massive example was ideally suited for smashing and piercing the major limb bones of large hunted prey in prehistory.  Its extreme weight and narrow, pointed tip made such a task possible.  During the time of this axe, there were large elephant and hippopotamus species as well as giraffe species in Africa that primitive humans would have hunted.  An axe like this was necessary to butcher such large kills.

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.  Impacted minerals and sediment staining deep in all micro-crevices - traits ONLY found in authentic specimens. 

This is an investment-grade Paleolithic artifact.  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 homogeneous 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.