US DOLLAR
EURO
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR
CANADIAN DOLLAR
POUND STERLING
Product Description
This is a masterfully executed Mousterian hand axe of the finest possible quality and condition. To date, it is one of two of the BEST AFRICAN MOUSTERIAN handaxe we have offered and frankly, would be difficult to improve upon. Compare this specimen with some of the French flint examples we have offered in the past. The typology and size is identical! The HIGHLY REFINED shape and secondary flaking most advanced form for this tool tradition. Remember, it is MUCH MORE DIFFICULT to get fine flaking with QUARTZITE which is what this axe is made of, compared to FLINT. The workmanship is truly spectacular for being quartzite and the original thin chopping end is still EXACTLY AS MADE IN ORIGINAL UN-DAMAGED CONDITION. The form and execution of this extraordinary handaxe must be held to be appreciated. A bulb was left on one side for an idea grip. Unlike their much larger predecessors of the Sahara during the Acheulian, Mousterian handaxes are much smaller in comparison. This rare specimen displays all edges and sharp tip without modern damage. This axe possesses natural desert wind erosion along with bi-color patina - traits of an authentic Paleolithic Saharan artifact caused by long-term exposure on one side as it lay undisturbed, exposed for millennia.
HISTORY
This Middle Paleolithic stone tool was fashioned out of quartzite in the Mousterian tradition and could have been used by Neanderthals and Homo sapiens between approximately 300,000 and 30,000 years ago. It was collected from an exposed Mousterian site in the Sahara Desert of North Africa. The tool tradition of the Neanderthals is called the Mousterian Tradition. The Mousterian Tool Culture is found in one of the longest and most spectacular sequences in the whole of North Africa. Several open and cave sites are documented. Oddly, the North African Mousterian technology appears as fully developed unlike the gradual formative stages found in Europe. Neanderthal genome mapping has shown that numerous regions across North Africa had evidence of Neanderthal human populations whereas, Sub-Saharan Africa was devoid of Neanderthals.
