Stone Age Obsidian Knife Core

A group of fifty knapped flint arrowheads. 114 grams total, 19-59 mm

Fine condition.

UK gallery, acquired in the 2000s. Property of an English gentleman.

A group of 20 tanged stone transverse style arrowheads. 250 grams total, 27-55 mm



From Grotte des Pigeons in Taforalt, Morocco, North Africa. Ex Arthur Halcrow Versage collection, Reigate, Surrey, UK.

The tang would have been inserted into a split handle or shaft material, like wood or bone, and then bound in position with cord, or with a binding agent which would have harden to form a permanent bond. The Aterian is the name given to a distinctive stone tool industry made by anatomically modern humans between about 80,000 and 40,000 years ago. The tools are found on sites in northern Africa between the Atlantic coast to the Kharga Oasis and the western edge of the Nile River Basin. The manufacturing process for these tools is derived from the earlier "Mousterian" methods for working stone, using prepared and shaped cores from which were struck off large flakes which were then often unifacially trimmed into the desired tool shapes. They continued with the same basic stone working processes, but with a major conceptual difference. The "Aterian" style tools are the first to have clearly been designed and manufactured to be mounted on handles, with the projectile points and the scrapers having distinctive prepared "tangs" at the base of the tool or projectile point.

A diorite axe-hammer, with rounded butt chamfered at the edge and with convex sides, sub-rectangular in section, dark green fine-grained stone. 635 grams, 10 cm



Acquired 1971-1972. From the collection of the vendor's father. Property of a London, UK, collector.

During Neolithic period, while objects for everyday use, such as knife blades, arrows and lance tips were often only knapped - albeit with very fine retouching - and people soon learnt how to polish selected tools and equipment with sand for a smooth surface. Rotating tubular bone and sand made it possible to fit axes and hammers with a pierced 'eye' for the handle. This eye socket is the preliminary stage of the Bronze Age socket.