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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.
SEE MORE LOWER PALEOLITHIC ACHEULEAN STONE ARTIFACTS
For the FIRST time in 33 years, we make a rare offering of a Lower Paleolithic hand axe from Tanzania, East Africa, made in a mesmerizing SPARKLING CRYSTAL QUARTZ! Coming from a private, multi-generation Dutch collection, this will forever remain one of the rarest Acheulean hand axes we will ever offer. It is not only rare to have originated from Tanzania, but it is made in sparkling crystal quartz, an extremely rare East African lithic to chose to make a tool from since it is a scarce stone there. Furthermore, crystalline quartz is EXTREMELY hard to flake and shape making this hand axe even more of an intriguing piece. In strong light, this AMAZING genuine artifact of Early Man, appears as if it has been dipped in diamonds! It is WITHOUT QUESTION, THIS WAS A PRESTIGE PIECE AND HIGHLY PRIZED FOR THIS SPARKLING EFFECT IN THE STONE.
The FIRST recorded Acheulian hand axes in the world were found in East Africa making this from the earliest time in human history of this period. Despite the age, one has to wonder just how primitive humans were to select this stone for its magical-looking, sparkling properties AND to choose a stone that would have stayed sharper than any other stone found. Maybe primitive humans were not so primitive. Never before have we seen ANY Paleolithic tool with such amazing optical features! Was it simply appreciated as a piece of status and beauty or, did the primitive human mind believe it held some special powers, being so unusual from all other stones and stone tools seen in its day? Was it fought over? Was it a prized trade piece? It's a fascinating subject to see such an extreme aesthetic in a prehistoric artifact of this age! Whoever the lucky purchaser of this specimen will be, it is sure to still bestow on the new owner, the same awe and pride it once did over a million years ago.
This is a classic Acheulian BIFACIAL ELONGATE HAND AXE. The bifacially-flaked body shows a expertly made, thin chopping end still intact as originally flaked. The still sharp and unbroken chopping tip is PERFECTLY preserved and is complete! A hand axe of this type was ideally suited for butchering large hunted prey in prehistory. Its weight and blade-like chopping end would have been ideally suited to sever hide, flesh and tendons.
GENUINE Acheulian hand axes of this quality are rare and recent realized prices at major auction houses are proving what we have been saying for years that authentic high grade tools of primitive man remain one of the most promising investments.
A Lower Paleolithic stone tool artifact represents the first intelligent design type known to science that was made by primitive humans. Prior to these Acheulean hand axes, only crude pebble tools existed in the human fossil record.
