Inventory #:

299

Type:

Scraper

Material:

Fontmaure Jasper

Period:

Middle Paleolithic Period (Mousterian) 80,000 - 40,000 years ago

Provenance:

Fontmaure, West Central France

Measurements:

19.4 cm x 12.5 cm

Massive two-handed scraper that has rough highpoints flaked off for comfort when holding as shown above. Continuous retouched edge shows extensive re-sharpening. Seems to be well-suited to be some sort of giant scraper that one would draw towards you such as when fleshing hides. Only one we have seen like it in this period and certainly, the largest scraper we have seen come from Fontmaure where most of the scrapers from this site are smaller than typical, possibly due to rationing of the prized colorful jasper.