US DOLLAR
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AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR
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Product Description
SEE MORE AFRICAN NEOLITHIC FLAKE TOOLS
This Neolithic of Capsian Tradition artifact was found on an exposed African Neolithic site in the Sahara Desert in Northwest Africa. It was made and used by African Neolithic humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) between 5400 BC and 2700 BC.
We have been obsessively collecting the finest African Neolithic Capsian artifacts for over the past 25 years and this specimen comes from a small, select collection we have been holding onto for the duration of that time. Out of many past trips from a long time ago when we used to travel to the source in the Sahara, as well as having purchased several amazing private collections in America and Europe, we built an assembly of true museum pieces. In all this time, we would set aside the RAREST OF THE RAREST pieces of the Capsian Neolithic culture, and it is now time for us to sell some from this private, ultra-rare stash. The collection is small and limited with many pieces being one-of-a-kind examples - the best we had ever encountered in our lifetime and in publications. This is one of those precious specimens from those efforts. The sites where these specimens were once found, have been entirely picked clean for years and since our acquisitions, laws have since been put in place forbidding any further export.
In 25 years of extensive working and collecting experience in Capsian Neolithic artifacts, this was by far, THE LARGEST Capsian Neolithic bifacial leaf blade in our collection and was the largest we had ever encountered in ANY publication. Bifacial large flaked leaf blades were very scarce in the Capsian Neolithic Tool Tradition which was several thousand years older than most or all other Neolithic traditions of the world that produced similar formed leaf blades. The rarity of this specimen is impossible to overstate. There would have been no reason to make such a blade of this size other than for prestige or ritual use. If there was a common utilitarian need for such a massive bifacial leaf blade as this, there would be numerous examples in existence, and it would have been a common tool type but the opposite is true. We have not even seen a specimen of this magnitude in any publication or collection, nor ever have we witnessed a specimen that was remotely this large, in numerous travels we have made to the Sahara, many years ago. This would be a 'holy grail' collection specimen for even the most advanced collectors!
Original mineral deposits and patina are intact and deep in all flake hinge fractures and micro-crevices - traits ONLY found in AUTHENTIC specimens.
Bifacially flaked leaf blades of supreme workmanship are well-known from other stone cultures such as Pre-Columbian civilizations but remember, those are cultures that were less than 2000 years old. Many were just 1000 years old. This massive blade comes from one of the oldest Neolithic traditions and dates back from 7400 to 4700 years ago! That is several thousand years BEFORE similar objects found in Pre-Columbian cultures.
