M330 - EXCEPTIONAL NEANDERTHAL MOUSTERIAN FLINT BIFACIAL HANDAXE FROM FRANCE

Product Description

ID

Mousterian Hand Axe

FOUND

Rock Shelter - Dordogne, France

AGE

MOUSTERIAN:  80,000 - 40,000 years ago

SIZE

4" long

CONDITION

INTACT AND COMPLETE - NO REPAIR OR
RESTORATION

NOTE

UNBROKEN NARROW POINT AND HEAVY
WHITE PATINA - TOP WORKMANSHIP.
ORIGINAL MINERAL SEDIMENTS INTACT.

INCLUDES DISPLAY  BOX - Actual Item - One Only

Comes with a certificate of authenticity / information sheet

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MOUSTERIAN TOOLS

The form and execution of this extraordinary handaxe was fashioned by a Neanderthal in classic MOUSTERIAN TRADITION.  Unlike their much larger predecessors of the Sahara during the Acheulian, Mousterian handaxes are much smaller in comparison.  Not only are Mousterian handaxes considered some of the rarest and most prized tools of the Neanderthals, this exquisite representation is a perfectly executed BIFACIAL example.  A prominent proximal end facet rests up against the palm for comfort or serves as a thumb rest in the opposite hand.  Narrow and delicate pointed tip is still intact and unbroken which is EXTREMELY RARE for specimens like this.  The entire surface features a rich, heavy whitish patina indicating extremel age and long-term exposure of many millennia to a wet environment.  Superb shaping and delicate secondary flaking over faces and edges with the classic zig-zap edge of the earlier Acheulian technology.  What look like breaks in the stone are not and are natural seams that formed in the flint before this hand axe was ever made.  As a testament to its authenticity and age, these seams provide irrefutable proof evidenced by the presence of minerals deep in these microscopic crevices.  This is one of the nices Neanderthal hand axes we have offered in quite some time.  Original private collection label from a former French collection, still present.   NO RESTORATION, REPAIR OR MODERN DAMAGE. 

This rare handaxe was fashioned out of flint by Neanderthals over 40,000 years ago and discovered in a Middle Paleolithic site in France.  Fine quality Mousterian Neanderthal tools are rare and often move from one private collection to the next as most sites are now depleted, destroyed, built over and all are protected by law forbidding modern day digging.  It is probable by simple logistics, that over time, high grade archeological tools will most definitely appreciate as collector demand continues to outpace the finite supply circulating amongst collectors that buy pieces and never resell.  Investment aside, no Paleolithic collection should be without representative tools of one of the most famous primitive humans in history!