A fine awl measuring 107mm, this piece is classified according to the characteristics of the material used in the craftsmanship of the tool. Some awls retain an epiphysis, the rounded end, where the joint or adjacent joint would be attached. This knuckle end then can be worked to comfortably fit in the hand. The awl shows good fine patination of the dark surface. Typical of being in the ground for some time and oil or grease from original use creating a patina, this now dry after being lost for some thousands of years in a desert environment.
Long animal metal parts are split and worked to a fine point. This awl resembles North America plains Indian awls. A type of awl found on the Southern Plains, Oklahoma. The rib-edge awl produced from a bison vertebra or vertebral spine edge of a bison. In cross-section, the triangular shape and the presence of the spongy or cancellous area give it the signature of the animal and maker of that region. Similarly, this awl has the triangular shape and spongy area. At this time without the aid of a DNA analysis and radiocarbon -14 dating report, we can only surmise what type of animal this may have come from in Africa. Attribution of the animal from whence it derived at this point is not assured.
History; An awl is produced normally around 100mm to 150mm in length, although smaller and larger are unearthed from archaeological sites. The pointed spike end is generally used for piercing or marking softer materials, wood or leather. The awl was an all-purpose implement for Homo Neanderthalensis (Neandertals or Neanderthals), to Homo sapiens. Its uses were for making large holes in anything less resilient.
Many awls have been discovered in the North American planes, a favoured tool for working with animal pelts or skins and making many domestic wares and clothing for the indigenous North America Indian peoples. The prehistoric awl is a different artefact entirely and rarely do we find Neolithic implements of such rarity from Europe or Africa.
The oldest so far discovered tools are from the continent of Africa, these approximately dated to 1.5 million years ago. It is accepted that they appeared and the technology was developed there before any other geographic region.
In the Blombos Cave excavations since 1997 in the Southern tip of Africa, at the Heidelberg, Western Cape, South Africa. Have revealed a collection of twenty-eight tools from layers dating to 70 thousand years old. To the period in time attributed to the Middle Stone Age (280,000 years ago to 50–25,000 years ago). Subsequent analyses of these splintered polished tools have revealed that a formal method of production produced them.
Provence: The sub-Saharan find has been traded through trade routes, souks and bazaars of middle Africa eventually finding its way to a European gentleman’s collection several years ago.
The amount of wear on the polished surface of the prehistoric awl is indicative of the human hand to fashion it, time in the earth, passage through the ages and is the signature of an ancient culture. having the characteristics of prehistory. An epiphysis end, a split culture and the polishing to hone a fine point for the use it was intended.
Type: Awl
Ages: Upper palaeolithic 50,000 to 10,000 BP
Period: Palaeolithic, Old Stone Age
Origin: Sub Saharan Africa
Awl measurements.
Length: 10.7 cm
Width: 1.8 cm
Depth: 1.0 cm
Weight: 0.005 Kg