Aterian Culture Palaeolithic Tanged Arrowhead/Stemmed Tool 8
Some of the earliest known projectiles, these are created from the local Chert.
The Aterian is a Middle Stone Age (or Middle Palaeolithic) stone tool industry centred in North Africa, but also possibly found in Oman and the Thar Desert. The earliest Aterian dates to c. 145,000 years ago, at the site of Ifri n'Ammar in Morocco. However, most of the early dates cluster around the beginning of the Last Interglacial, around 150,000 to 130,000 years ago, when the environment of North Africa began to ameliorate. The Aterian disappeared around 20,000 years ago.
The Aterian is primarily distinguished through the presence of tanged or pedunculated tools, and is named after the type site of Bir el Ater, south of Tébessa. Bifacially-worked, leaf-shaped tools are also a common artefact type in Aterian assemblages.
Size: 4.9cm long
