US DOLLAR
EURO
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR
CANADIAN DOLLAR
POUND STERLING
Product Description
This RARE African Acheulian prehistoric stone tool is a large UNIFACIAL SIDE SCRAPER. This tool was made and used by Homo ergaster (African Homo erectus) and is an uncommonly large example of the first use of a knife by primitive humans over a half a million years ago! It was surface-collected from an exposed Acheulian site in the Northern 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 tools, only crude pebble tools existed in the human fossil record.
This large scraper shows an expertly flaked finger grip for comfort when held in use. Very seldom seen in private collections, a tool this type is rare from Africa with most Acheulian specimens collected being handaxes. This is a type of flake tool, fashioned by a large flake struck from an even larger tool core. Acheulian FLAKE TOOLS are much more rare in Africa then Acheulian HAND AXES. Edge photos show extreme wind erosion but secondary flaking all down the cutting edge is plainly visible. Desert patina and wind erosion is seen in the "desert varnish". Bi-color feature is typical of only authentic examples. Double cutting edges on opposing sides and perfect example of a unifacial flake tool from this era and location. Original sediment and some mineral encrustations are still present in microscopic crevices and cracks - a trait ONLY found in authentic Paleolithic artifacts like these.
Perfect for use in de-fleshing animal hides and butchering the large game that thrived in Northern Africa during the days of Homo ergaster. Acheulian scrapers from the Sahara are RARE and often overlooked in field collecting and rarely seen in collections.
HISTORY
FLAKE TOOLS from the SAHARAN ACHEULIAN are much more rare then their Saharan Acheulian HANDAXE counterparts. While handaxes are rather obvious in design and easy to therefore, recognize when collecting on a site, smaller flake tools have less obvious features at first glance and easily blend in with surrounding scrap flakes and natural stones. The vast majority of private collections lack Acheulian Saharan flake tools in comparison to handaxes from the same period.
