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Product Description
SEE MORE NEANDERTHAL MOUSTERIAN TOOLS
This is one of the largest and certainly, finest Neanderthal Mousterian flake tools we have offered, with every desirable feature and some that are rare. It is an unusually large flint SIDE SCRAPER with stunning Quina scalar retouch all along its cutting edge. It is 2-3 times the size of most Neanderthal flake tools and made on an very thick flint flake. It was found below the ground so it has no modern damage or weathering, on the contrary, it has an incredible soil sheen that highlights the spectacular flaking and workmanship. This was likely a very prized tool to its original Neanderthal maker and owner. It would have been vital to scrape and deflesh large hunted animal hides such as bison, horse and bear. It fits in the hand extremely well and has a slightly convex edge that would have been ideal in processing hides and butchering large game.
Made of flint between 160,000 and 40,000 years ago by Neanderthals, it was found many decades ago in a rock shelter of a former Neanderthal occupation site in the famous Vezere Valley, France, considered to be the "Capitol of Prehistory". The site this specimen was excavated from has long been closed and protected by the government, making this remarkable stone tool artifact exceedingly rare and desirable! Because collecting these artifacts has been off-limits for decades, genuine fine grade Mousterian Neanderthal tools such as this specimen are most certain to continue to appreciate in value as time goes on.
The cutting edge shows fantastic MOUSTERIAN QUINA RETOUCH, also called SCALAR retouch, whereby the original Neanderthal maker hit an edge of the tool with a series of secondary blows giving the effect of fish scales. This trait was first attributed to the La Quina Mousterian type-site in France but is occasionally seen on tools from various sites all dated to the Mousterian Middle Paleolithic era.
This fantastic flake tool is complete with evidence of prehistoric use. Present are intact mineral deposits and deep patina on the flint surfaces and hinge fractures to testify to its authenticity and lack of any modern alterations. A superb example from this famous Neanderthal region!
