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**painshill** · 12-22-2021, 08:08 PM

AND THE WINNER:

1. Benji with 94 points.

and the runner-up:

2. Flintguy with 88 points.

Don't forget Mike, as Neil Armstrong said to Buzz Aldrin: "hey... second comes right after first".

Since you two were the only entrants, I have decided to award an additional runner-up prize to reflect Mike's valiant effort, after I have had a rummage in my "lucky box" to find something suitable.

So, if you could please BOTH send me your Email and postal addresses by private message I will get the prizes in the post to you after the Xmas rush has subsided (to minimise the chances of the packets going astray during the busy period).

Well done to the two of you,

**Hoss** · 12-23-2021, 06:11 AM

Congratulations to both of you .

**flintguy** · 12-23-2021, 10:03 AM

Good win Benji. I know how difficult this quiz was. Impressed with your score. Question #1 tripped me up the most for some reason. Anagrams just aren't my thing.

**beatup1354** · 12-23-2021, 06:35 PM

well done to you both

**Benji** · 12-23-2021, 07:38 PM

Im ecstatic.....cant believe i won.....thank you for this quiz painshill....i had a great time working on this, and learned quite a bit doing this.....very generous of you to provide the prize associated with this contest....thank you very much, and cannot wait for the mail to arrive.....ill pm my information to you shortly.

**Benji** · 01-17-2022, 03:21 PM

International mail received this weekend Painshill......this hand axe is awesome man. I appreciate this prize very much.....to have an artifact this old is super cool......here are some pics, for others to see.

**painshill** · 01-17-2022, 08:05 PM

You're welcome Benji (and Mike). I have now sent each of you a private message with some background information about the items I sent. The info below relates to Benji's handaxe... and Mike, feel free to use the info I sent you when you post your pictures. Your item is older, but less rare.

The handaxe is a classic Acheulean ‘Mode 2’ cordiform biface from Calvados in the Normandy region of NW France. People tend to think of the Acheulean as an African or Eurasian industry which is indeed where it originated, but it began diffusing into mainland Europe reaching France more than 400,000 years ago.

‘Mode 1’ Lower Palaeolithic tools are typified by the Oldowan industry of Africa (known as Abbevillian in France or Clactonian in Britain) and are usually unsophisticated flake tools, generally worked only on one side. They’re almost exclusively associated with Homo ergaster (sometimes called early Homo erectus). ‘Mode 2’ Acheulean tools like yours are almost always associated with Homo Heidelbergensis, the probable common ancestor of modern humans and Neanderthals. Unlike Mode 1 tools, the flaking method had evolved to include the use of bone, antler, or wood billets to give more control over the symmetry of the final shape and it was the oval teardrop core itself that was prized, rather than the flakes taken from it. The material is likely Jurassic flint.

The Acheulean industry continued to be used by Homo heidelbergensis, Homo erectus and other early humans with higher levels of refinement until around 100,000 years ago in Europe but is almost never associated with Homo sapiens or Neanderthals. By around 160,000 years ago, Neanderthals had adopted the technology but in a more refined form to produce the more sophisticated ‘Mode 3’ bifaces of the Mousterian industry. The earlier transitional phase is often referred to as ‘Mousterian after Acheulean’ but your handaxe doesn’t have the refinements which would put it in that typology. It’s late Acheulean and a dating of c140,000-130,000 BP (Before Present) would sit nicely with the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) dates for Acheulean camps in the region where it was found.

**flintguy** · 01-17-2022, 09:26 PM

Here are some pics of the second place prize Painshill graciously sent me along with the info on the artifact. By the way, still razor sharp.

What I sent you is a Neanderthal bladed point in the Mousterian tradition, made on a Levallois flake. It was found in the vicinity of Bapaume-les Osiers in the Pas-de-Calais region of Northern France, where the primary Neanderthal occupation dates to the Early Middle Palaeolithic. The material is likely Turonian flint which is commonly found in the area as nodular material.

The tool itself cannot be dated but there is an extensive open-air Neanderthal occupation site at Bapaume where numerous tools have been found, which has been dated to the boundary between MIS (Marine Isotope Stage) 6/7a. The median date for the site is c.195,000 years BP (Before Present). From a survey of 572 lithic tools published in 2011, around 57% of the assemblage was reported as exhibiting Levallois reduction techniques and around 4% of the assemblage was represented as points with stylistic traits similar to this one. The possibility of this point being from a later period can’t be ruled out, but the find area was in close proximity to the excavation of the Bapaume open-air site.

The Neanderthal period ended before the development of the bow and there is little evidence for Neanderthal use of projectile spears. The consensus is that Neanderthals favoured stout stabbing spears for hunting at close range, so points of this type are most likely cutting tools related to butchery and other

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