M317 - INVESTMENT-GRADE GIANT NEANDERTHAL MOUSTERIAN POINT SPEARHEAD WITH SPARKLING CRYSTALS

Product Description

ITEM # 

M317

ID

Mousterian Point

FOUND

Rock Shelter - Caen, France

AGE

MOUSTERIAN:  80,000 - 40,000 years ago

SIZE

4" long

CONDITION

INTACT AND COMPLETE - NO REPAIR OR
RESTORATION.  PERFECT. NATURAL DRUSY
CRYSTALS ON ONE FACE.

NOTE

STUNNING PRESTIGE SPECIMEN WITH ONE 
SIDE SHOWING AN AREA OF SPARKLING DRUSY
CRYSTALS LIKE A MILLION STARS.  FINEST
EXAMPLE AND THE SECOND LARGEST 
NEANDERTHAL SPEAR WE HAVE HAD BUT THIS
ONE WITH MORE COLOR AND FEATURES.
HUGE BULB FOR HAFTING ONTO WOODEN POLE. 
INTENDED FOR HUNTING VERY LARGE GAME.

INCLUDES DISPLAY BOX - Actual Item - One Only

Comes with a certificate of authenticity / information sheet

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This is the SECOND LARGEST Mousterian Point / Spearhead we have ever offered.  It is an  ULTRA RARE Neanderthal Mousterian point of substantial size and exquisitely made out of flint with a mesmerizing lustrous patina.  It has an unusual feature of one face being covered in sparkling micro-fine drusy crystals so that it looks like a million diamonds are shimmering when held in light.  Because of its size, color and this feature, it MOST CERTAINLY was a "PRESTIGE PIECE" garnering the attention of any Neanderthal who would have seen it.  There is a massive flaked portion on the base where a large bulb would have been used to lash cord of gut or sinew to haft this point onto a wooden pole.  A point this size would be needed to hunt large game of this time such as rhino, mammoth, bison or musk ox.  This spearhead / point was made by Neanderthals over 40,000 years ago and discovered in France in a rock shelter.  France is home to some of Europe's most spectacular Paleolithic sites nearly all of which   are now closed and off-limits to any collecting, makes this scarce prehistoric weapon a scarce and highly desirable acquisition piece for the best collections or investment!

This  INVESTMENT-GRADE Mousterian Point came from a very old French collection as is the case with all the best material being stashed for decades and decades in private collections of yesteryear when collecting was possible.  Today, sites are depleted, closed and protected, preventing further digging of any new artifacts. 

This specimen shows exceptional workmanship on a massive levallois flake with retouching on the sides typical for Mousterian Point technology.  RARE is the size and with its reduced base and knapped ledge to hold it onto a pole, this point has all the features of serving as a massive spearhead.   The steep ridge running down the center and robust construction would have made this a suitable spearhead when lashed to a wooden pole, to go up against very large Ice Age megafauna.  The hides of Woolly Mammoths and Woolly Rhinos as well as Cave Bears, would have required strong points to be able to penetrate their thick fatty and hair-filled hides.  The tip is intact and unbroken as well as the proximal end still being present and undamaged.  The side edges so prehistoric sharpening and re-touching - remarkable museum-class demonstration of Middle Paleolithic flaking!!!  The one surface has some of the original white outer cortex of the flint nodule before it was flaked.  To call this piece "impressive" is an understatement - it is an amazing piece to handle and feel the heavy yet, expert craftsmanship. in this Neanderthal artifact.  Surface shows rich hytdration patina and original mineral sediment still embedded in some of the hinge fractures - irrefutable evidence of an authentic specimen.  This entire specimen is in perfect, AS MADE condition.  A true  INVESTMENT GRADE  Paleolithic artifact.  NO RESTORATION, REPAIR OR MODERN DAMAGE.  

Mousterian Points are theorized to have been used as spearheads mounted on the ends of wooden poles and employed to stab large prey by Neanderthal hunters.  Certainly a specimen like this would have been a formidable weapon and such a size would have been needed to take down large prey such as Woolly Mammoth, Bison, Aurochs, Cave Bear and Woolly Rhinoceros.  The form and execution of this extraordinary spearhead is superb.  By this period in time, Man had not yet invented the bow and arrow but intact Neanderthal wooden spears have been scientifically documented in situ.  Triangular pointed tips first made by Neanderthals were the precursor to the arrowhead!  

The Levallois Technique is a method of flake tool manufacture that was first employed in the Acheulian Era about 250,000 years ago by archaic Homo sapiens but perfected in the Middle Paleolithic Era by Neanderthals.  It consists of starting with a core of stone and using heavy percussion hammering on one side to remove large flakes in a radial fashion, creating a "turtle-back" profile on one side of the core.  A single heavy blow at one end of the core struck the flake off and the end result was a prepared flake (a la Levallois) with a convex shape on one side (from initial flake removal when still attached to the core) and a flat side on the other (from the side split off the remaining core).  Edges of this struck flake were then retouched to create the desired cutting edge but the geometry of the two sides remained.  It was the Levallois method employed by Neanderthals to manufacture a variety of early tools including the first points that were hafted to wooden poles for use as spears.  These were the first known human-made spears and were likely used by thrusting, rather than throwing.