ACHEULIAN STONE HANDAXE - Sahara Desert, North Africa

LOWER PALEOLITHIC PERIOD (ACHEULIAN):  1.2 million - 500,000 years ago

Probably one of the most beautiful patinas, this pumpkin orange handaxe is a beautiful and large example.  It exhibits a well-executed form and possesses a fine desert varnish (a natural glossy surface caused by the exposure of the stone to the blowing sands over many thousands of years).  Dark side shows dramatic wind erosion on the proximal end.  This is a top grade example that boasts of no modern damage and is in "as found" ORIGINAL condition.  This tool was used by Homo erectus and was surface-collected in the Northern Sahara Desert.

In Africa, the Acheulian Tradition 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 are small tools like NOTCHES, SCRAPERS and SPHEROIDS (round flaked stone balls).  Most tools of this period were fashioned from basalt or quartzite.

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.

MESMERIZING PUMPKIN PATINA WITH DRAMATIC WIND EROSION! 

6" in length x 3.1" wide

$385     TA017     Actual Item - One Only

385