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EUROPEAN ACHEULIAN FLAKE SIDE SCRAPER FROM HOMO HEIDELBERGENSIS (ERECTUS) FIRST HUMANS IN EUROPE Le Grand-Pressigny - Southern Touraine, France LOWER PALEOLITHIC PERIOD (EUROPEAN ACHEULEAN): 250,000 years ago This European Acheulian stone tool was fashioned by Homo erectus, the first humans to occupy Europe. This specimen was fashioned in the Acheulian method, the predominant tool technology of the Homo erectus people in Europe from 250,000 years ago. This type of tool is a European Acheulian side-scraper made on a flake. European Acheulian FLAKE tools are often absent from private collections or less common than handaxes. This specimen presents a great opportunity to compliment your Primitive Man tool collection. It is designed to be used by the right hand only and have a depression in the stone where your thumb fits into. Back side shows extensive retouching to make it comfortable to hold as well as retouching on the cutting edge. This superb specimen was collected in 1979, long before the permanent ban on digging Paleolithic tools had been in place. From an old French collection, the original collector label and date is still present on this artifact. Tool exhibits a beautiful dark patina and soil sheen on the original surfaces with NO MODERN DAMAGE, REPAIR OR RESTORATION. This fine specimen was fashioned by Homo erectus out of golden honey-toned flint from the well-known prehistoric site of Le Grand Pressigny in France. WARNING: Because of the crudeness of Lower Paleolithic tools, sales of both fakes and simple debris flakes (debitage) that were NEVER used as tools (but are being sold as such), are problems to be aware of when purchasing these specimens from this time period. Obvious secondary retouching from direct hammer percussion is a necessary feature found on genuine specimens. More importantly, since we are talking about a very old artifact, it WILL ALWAYS have some sort of patina and soil sheen, if dug, but be cautious about even fake patinas that are now popular to replicate by submerging the modern piece in lye! Such traits are missing in the false tools being passed off as Lower Paleolithic on sites such as Ebay (currently fraught with numerous fraud complaints) and uninformed dealers selling either online or at shows. To ensure AUTHENTICITY, every PRIMITIVE MAN ARTIFACT acquisition should be purchased ONLY from highly experienced and knowledgeable dealers who specialize in and have handled extensive quantities of GENUINE primitive stone tools. Furthermore, EVERY authentic stone tool purchased should be accompanied by an unconditional, lifetime return policy to guarantee authenticity as well as a CERTIFICATE to put it in writing. The Acheulian Tradition first began in Africa and there it is well-defined and most diverse when compared to other regions where it eventually spread to. HANDAXES are the most typical bifacial tool associated with this period. Different from the bifacial tools from the earlier Oldowan Period, Acheulian tools are fashioned from large flakes as opposed to using a whole cobblestone as the core. Along with handaxes, other bifacial tools that are Acheulian are CLEAVERS (large handaxes with a flat top) and PICKS (robust elongated, trihedral tools). Other stone implements found at Acheulian sites include smaller flake tools. The first hominids to live outside of Africa were the primitive humans Homo erectus. Around 1.8 million years, these hominids spread through south Asia keeping to the tropical zones to which they preferred. They eventually colonized temperate regions of Europe and North China less than one million years ago but never reached Australia or the Americas. Unlike the later Neanderthal species, Homo erectus avoided frozen and sub-Artic regions of the world. With the arrival of Homo erectus in Europe, stone tool technology took a step back as both Oldowan style pebble tools and later Acheulian tools are found in the habitation layers, existing after the more refined Acheulian technology was practiced in Africa. The precise date for Europe's initial human occupation is not known and human fossils before 700,000 years in Europe are too scarce to base any theory on. We know that between 700,000 and 400,000 years ago, the first handaxes were used in Europe. Debris from both occupied sites and kill sites show evidence of butchered large game animals and stone tool manufacture of both, bifacial handaxes and smaller flake tools modified from crude secondary flakes. The actual function of handaxes is debated. Some suggest they were not used as a chopping tool but for butchering game. Scientists have shown that these tools exhibit wear common to butchery uses. Other scientists have theorized they were thrown into a herd as a deadly spinning projectile. Probably the most interesting theory and one that explains why many unworn and pristine condition tools have been found abandoned is that of the tool's use not as a tool at all but as an aid to sexual attraction. Possibly, males used techniques of being able to fashion symmetrical stone axes to attract females and demonstrate they were the most capable individual for survival and support of a family. If you were a primitive human able to make a large symmetrical handaxe, this would show you were genetically superior and an excellent candidate for mating. There is much evidence that contradicts this theory but it sure is quite an interesting hypothesis. Based on the varieties of utilitarian handaxe designs, and not only obvious wear from use but actual well-thought flaking designs to best fit ones hand, there's really little doubt that these stone tools were relied upon on a daily basis for primitive man's existence. EUROPEAN ACHEULIAN FLAKE TOOLS ARE LESS COMMON IN COLLECTIONS THAN HANDAXES! 3.65" in length x 2.7" wide SOLD ACH-076 Actual Item - One Only |
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