LARGE ACHEULEAN HAND AXE. ...

Description

LARGE ACHEULEAN HAND AXE
Lower Paleolithic, 250,000-100,000 B.P.
Mauritania
This superb specimen dates from the Acheulean complex of stone tool production, and was fashioned by our ancestor Homo erectus in the area that is now northern Mauritania. So early are these human remains, that when first discovered in the area they were supposed to constitute an entirely separate human species, Atlanthropus mauritanicus (scholarship now includes them in the H.erectus species). This type of hand-axe is of the Micoquian type, finely knapped from flintstone, with a good body of distinctive pear-shaped form, and fine tapering point, with a warm brown patina, 6½ inches long, presented upright on an ebonized metal display stand.

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