RARE AFRICAN MOUSTERIAN POINT SPEARHEAD FROM MIDDLE STONE AGE AFRICA *M489

Product Description

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The earliest post-Acheulean tool industry in much of North Africa, is designated Mousterian.  In Africa, the Mousterian industry was an archaeological term for a category of Middle Stone Age (or Middle Paleolithic) stone tool production.  The Aterian tool industry is also one that occurred in Africa during this period.  African Mousterian tools were believed to be made by Archaic humans at a time when Neanderthals were thriving in Europe.  They have been found on exposed sites in the Northwest Sahara Desert.  Recent dating methods show the tools to have been mostly produced during the humid Eemian interglacial and later phases of MIS 5, from 130,000 to 72,000 BP.

This is the only Levallois Mousterian point spearhead from Africa we have ever handled and it was part of our private collection for over 20 years.  It is extremely rare and was likely hafted onto a wood pole shaft and used as a stabbing or throwing spear.  Such a weapon would have been the FIRST projectile point ever used by humans in Stone Age Africa.  It was made of a beautiful mottled warm brown flint, using classic Levallois flaking techniques.  The secondary retouch down both sides is typical of Mousterian point manufacture.  The base is tapered, allowing it to be better hafted onto a shaft.  It shows use wear and re-sharpening of the tip.  Lack of any modern crushing, as well as ancient deposits deep in micro-crevices and flake scars are traits ONLY found in authentic Stone Age artifacts like this. 

Such a point would have been a highly effective projectile point spearhead, hafted to a wooden pole, for warfare or hunting large game that once lived on a fertile savanna plain that is now the Sahara Desert. 

Coming from our personal private collection that we had built over 23 years of extensive international travel, this is one of a very few of THE BEST OF THE BEST we are starting to offer.  Over the years, we had been setting aside the absolute finest examples of Aterian tools that we opted to keep aside.  Today, you just do not find specimens like this and we enjoyed the collection but now, it is now time to let someone else be their proud steward.  This collection fills just one large Riker box display flat so once they are gone, these will be gone forever.  Don't miss this fantastic opportunity to add some of the finest Aterian Middle Stone Age tools of Africa you will ever see on the market!

HISTORY

The Mousterian (or Mode III) is an archaeological industry of stone tools, associated primarily with the Neanderthals in Europe, and to the earliest anatomically modern humans in North Africa and West Asia.  The Mousterian largely defines the latter part of the Middle Paleolithic, the middle of the West Eurasian Old Stone Age. It lasted roughly from 160,000 to 40,000 BP. If its predecessor, known as Levallois or Levallois-Mousterian, is included, the range is extended to as early as c. 300,000–200,000 BP.

The culture was named after the type site of Le Moustier, three superimposed rock shelters in the Dordogne region of France.  Similar flintwork has been found all over unglaciated Europe and also the Near East and North Africa.  Handaxes, racloirs, and points constitute the industry; sometimes a Levallois technique or another prepared-core technique was employed in making the flint flakes.

The earliest North African Mousterian is probably that from the Maghreb, from which its Saharan variant, the Aterian, is presumably derived.  To the east, Levallois-Mousterian industries occur in Libya, as at Haua FTeah, and at numerous sites in the Nile valley.  Flake tools were characteristic, notably sub-triangular points and side-scrapers, made on flakes removed from carefully prepared cores.

by a Neanderthal toolmaker exhibiting the peak skill of their craft between 160,000 and 40,000 years ago, this is THE LARGEST AND FINEST Levallois Mousterian point Neanderthal Spearhead we have ever offered.  Most Mousterian points are half this size and no where near as symmetrical!  Not only is this a maximum size projectile point, it was fashioned out of the beautiful reddish orange flint that is famous from the region it was found - Loir-et-Cher, France.  It shows masterful secondary flaking down both sides to refine and shape its spectacular form.  The wide shoulder near the base then tapers back again to the bottom original striking platform of the flake.  This broad profile allowed two things - 1) it achieved a very wide cutting edge to inflict an enormous wound, and 2) it created a "shoulder" by which the point could have been securely lashed to a wooden pole.  The tip is intact and exhibits actual use wear, and the entire point is perfect and exactly as originally made.  The edges show evidence of use and re-use from re-sharpening by its former Neanderthal owner.  Surface shows prehistoric patina and mineral deposits still embedded in the hinge fractures - irrefutable evidence of an authentic specimen. 

As Neanderthals hunted large game such as Woolly Mammoth, Woolly Rhinoceros, Bison, Horse, Aurochs, and Megaloceros, they also needed an effective weapon to protect themselves from Cave Bear, Cave Hyena, Cave Lion, and most likely, each other!  Such a massive projectile point as this would have been a requirement to take down the largest and most deadly beasts of their day!  The large size and perfectly oriented pronounced central rib for strength, allowed this point to survive the penetration of a thick hairy hide, and be driven deep to reach a vital organ. This is an incredibly impressive specimen and impossible to improve on.

The Mousterian point is the scarcest of all Neanderthal stone tools - much more rare than hand axes!  Mousterian points are Levallois points that show secondary flaking down the cutting edges, often refining the point's shape and allowing re-use by re-sharpening.  The Mousterian point is theorized to have been used as spearheads mounted on the ends of wooden poles, and employed to stab large prey by Neanderthal hunters.  By this time, Man had not yet invented the bow and arrow but intact Neanderthal wooden spears have been scientifically documented in situ.  The Mousterian Point or Levallois Point would be humanity's first spearhead, and the precursor to the arrowhead!  Lashed to a wooden pole, it was a milestone invention of a new weapon for hunting large game.  Now, the megafauna of the day could be hunted with greater success.  Such a weapon would have also given prehistoric humans a more effective weapon against each other.