Neanderthal Classic Riker Box Stone Tool Fragment
Neanderthal Classic Riker Box Stone Tool Fragment
This specimen is a fragment of an actual Neanderthal Stone tool. The Neanderthal Hand Axe Fragment ships in our classic, glass-top riker box display case. The case measures 4x3x1 and includes a small information card, which also serves as the certificate of authenticity.
Our Neanderthal Stone Tool Specimens from the collection of a retired French postman. He spent decades traversing rural France, collecting and cataloging Mousterian stone tools. The tools have been validated by experts in the field, with estimated ages between 140,000 and 70,000 years old.
Please Note: Color, size, and shape of the fragments varies on this specimen. See full sizing details below.
Classic Riker Box Neanderthal Stone Tool Fragment
Stones were our ancestors first tools — in fact, they may even predate our species. Members of the primate family have been creating stone tools for millions of years. This specimen is a fragment of a tool created by a Neanderthal, an extinct subspecies of archaic humans.
Our understanding of Neanderthals is rapidly changing, from brutish cousins of humans to a quite closer offshoot of the evolutionary tree. The appearance of tools like these at archaeological sites have shown us that there is much more than meets the eye to these prehistoric peoples.
📸 A small Neanderthal Stone Tool Fragment in hand
The specimen is a flake from a full, prehistoric hand tool. Both small and medium sized fragments are available, with small specimens coming in one of our gem jar cases and large sizes shipping inside a bubble wrap bag.
Both sizes also are shipped with our classic, glass-top riker box display case. The case measures 4x3x1 and includes a small information card, which also serves as the certificate of authenticity.
📸 A complete Mousterian Biface (Hand Axe)
Showcase Specimens
In addition to the classic boxed specimens, we also have several complete tools. Each tool is priced and sold individually. These showcase specimens ship in sturdy cartons and include individual certificates of authenticity.
EXTINCTION: ROUGHLY 40,000 YEARS AGO
MORE ABOUT NEANDERTHALS
"One day, we may be able to understand why, of all the primates, modern humans spread to all corners of the world and reshaped, both intentionally and unintentionally, the environment on a global scale. I am convinced that parts of the answers to this question lies hidden in the ancient genomes we have sequenced." ~ Svante Pääbo, Director of Genetics the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Once thought to be nothing more than hair-covered brutes, our understanding of Neanderthals has changed much over the last 150 years.
The first recognized Neanderthal remains were discovered in 1856, but claims that a specimen from an ancient human race had been found were immediately discounted. Just a few years later the publication of Charles Darwin’s Origin of the Species, and the realization that earlier finds of similar remains had occurred in other countries, made it clear that our past was not what we had long thought it to be.
With each passing decade more curious finds would emerge, changing our notions of human history in radical ways:
- Stone tools discovered in a Neanderthal site above the French village of Le Moustier opened our eyes to an advanced, tool-making culture.
- Additional finds extended this culture across Europe and Central Asia, reaching back well over one hundred thousand years.
- Later, careful archeological studies would uncover complex social relationships, including care of the injured and burial rituals.
Yet, perhaps the greatest advance in our understanding of our own past comes from the recent discovery that many of us have Neanderthal DNA embedded in our own modern genetic code. Neanderthals are not just a divergent species; they are part of us.
Front of the Specimen Card
Back of the Specimen Card
Further Reading
Drell, Julia RR. "Neanderthals: a history of interpretation." Oxford Journal of Archaeology 19.1 (2000): 1-24.
Pääbo, Svante. Neanderthal man: In search of lost genomes. 2014.
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