MIDDLE STONE AGE BASALT HAND AXE FROM NORTH AFRICA *AT175

Product Description

For  comparison prices, please see the "Old World Typology and Price Guide" section of the "OVERSTREET IDENTIFICATION AND PRICE GUIDE TO INDIAN ARROWHEADS" editions 7th, 8th and 9th.

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This rare basalt biface hand axe was found in the Northwestern Sahara Desert, and dates to the Middle Stone Age (MSA), between 280,000 and 50,000 years ago.  It was made by either anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens), or archaic Homo sapiens.  Because of the dangers of navigating the open Sahara desert, and the laws forbidding artifact export, African Paleolithic tools are becoming increasingly scarce and values are climbing of these older private collection specimens. 

This Middle Stone Age artifact is a ELONGATED TRIANGULAR BIFACE HAND AXE.  With the majority of African Middle Stone Age tools found being flake scrapers, bifaces like this, are much more scarce.  Perhaps, these were considered displays of skill and achievement in this period as the skill to flake such a complex tool over a simple flake scraper, would have required a very high level of skill.  Hand axe bifaces in the later Middle Stone Age were much smaller than the older examples of the Acheulean.  Similar to the shrinking sizes of bifaces in the European Middle Paleolithic, this hand axe was likely made towards the end of the Middle Stone Age.  It is complete with superb preservation and workmanship typical of the Middle Stone Age of Africa.  It  features a bi-colored patina from laying on one side on the desert floor, undisturbed for tens of thousands of years.  It also has a naturally lustrous surface called 'desert varnish' which is a smooth, glossy surface layer consisting of iron oxide and manganese deposited over thousands of years by exposure to blowing desert sand.  This is one of only a few Middle Stone Age African hand axe bifaces we have ever had the chance to acquire!  With intact prehistoric sediment deposits in all micro-crevices, and a lack of any modern flaking or crushing - traits ONLY found on authentic, UNALTERED prehistoric specimens.

HISTORY

The Middle Stone Age (or MSA) was a period of African prehistory between the Early Stone Age and the Late Stone Age.  It is generally considered to have begun around 280,000 years ago and ended around 50–25,000 years ago.  The beginnings of particular MSA stone tools have their origins as far back as 550–500,000 years ago and as such some researchers consider this to be the beginnings of the MSA.  The MSA is often mistakenly understood to be synonymous with the Middle Paleolithic of Europe, especially due to their roughly contemporaneous time span, however, the Middle Paleolithic of Europe represents an entirely different hominin population, Homo neanderthalensis, than the MSA of Africa, which did not have Neanderthal populations.  Additionally, current archaeological research in Africa has yielded much evidence to suggest that modern human behavior and cognition was beginning to develop much earlier in Africa during the MSA than it was in Europe during the Middle Paleolithic.  The MSA is associated with both anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens) as well as archaic Homo sapiens.

The stone tool technology in use during the Middle Stone Age (MSA) shows a mosaic of techniques.  Beginning approximately 300 kya, the large cutting tools of the Achuelian are gradually displaced by Levallois prepared core technologies, also widely used by Neanderthals during the European Middle Paleolithic.  As the MSA progresses, highly varied technocomplexes become common throughout Africa and include pointed artifacts, blades, retouched flakes, end and side scrapers, grinding stones, and even bone tools.  However, the use of blades (associated mainly with the Upper Paleolithic in Europe) is seen at many sites as well.  In Africa, blades may have been used during the transition from the Early Stone Age to the Middle Stone Age onwards.  Finally, during the later part of the Middle Stone Age, microlithic technologies aimed at producing replaceable components of composite hafted tools are seen from at least 70 ka at sites such as Pinnacle Point and Diepkloof Rock Shelter in South Africa.