ATi15 Upper Acheulean from Erg Tiodaine, Algeria.  An almond-shaped biface handaxe fashioned on a quartzite flake.  The interior side is only facially and laterally worked at the proximal point to remove the bulb of the blank.  The other side is entirely facially worked.  The edges and the butt are worked with refinishing touches.  The long edges are very straight.  One side of the axe shows some desert patina and wind polish.  The color of the raw material has changed from gray-brown to bright gray (as is evinced at the edges of the piece).  The other side has its original color (gray-brown) and little wind polish.  Flake scars are well defined on both sides and the edges are still quite sharp.  Edges show traces of the sedimentary matrix from the paleo-lake bed in which the axe was found.  Length 18 cm.  Ex Josef Halm (Germany) Collection.

The site is known for the variety of raw materials employed in tool manufacturing—even more so than Amguid.  The southern Algerian site was first identified by a French Foreign Legionnaire and is called Station du Sargent Bianchi.  Objects come from the sediments of the paleo-lake.  G. Camps, Les Civilizations Prehistorique d’Afrique du Nord et du Sahara, 1974.

A really nicely fashioned piece on a flake with desert varnish on one face, and more sharply preserved flaking on the face that was buried in the playa.  Remains of the playa sediments at the lateral edges.

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