Often referred to as handaxes, bifaces were made by the Hominin predecessors of humans during the Lower Paleolithic period. Although bifaces are found in many shapes and sizes, the basic tool type was used for a very long time span and can be found all over Africa, Asia and Europe. Rather than a tool made for a specific task, bifaces were a kind of multi-tool that could be used in a variety of ways such as chopping, cutting, and scraping. Additionally the large tools could serve as a portable source for flakes if smaller tools or sharper edges were needed. This example, however, is rather small and flat, and can be classified as a sub-cordiform biface. The presence of a retouched notch on the distal tip underlines the potential for these tools to be re-worked as needed.
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Dimensions:L. 9.6 × W. 6.5 × Th. 1.9 cm, Wt. 122.7g (3 13/16 × 2 9/16 × 3/4 in., 4.328oz.)
Credit Line:Gift of C. T. Currelly, 1906
Object Number:06.322.136
Discussion of the group
This artifact was part of a set of 147 lithic objects donated to the Metropolitan Museum by Charles T. Currelly in 1906 (06.322.1- 06.322.147). Currelly participated in Edward Naville’s excavations at Deir el- Bahri between 1905 and 1907, and he most likely collected these artifacts from the surface of the high desert plateau behind the site, as is indicated in a letter of May 19, 1906 addressed to Edward Robinson, the then assistant director at The Met. In the letter, William M. Laffan, a trustee of the museum, writes that these flints "are from the edge of the Libyan desert where it approaches the Valley of the Kings behind Der-el-Bah’ri, and are of unusual interest." Additionally, the substantial build-up of dark brown patina covering the artifacts shows that they were likely exposed on the desert surface. Aside from the patina, the preservation is otherwise quite good, with only minimal signs of rolling/damage, and lacking the high degree of weathering and erosion seen on Paleolithic artifacts that were naturally transported far distances. Therefore, the artifacts were probably found close to their original depositional positions. Indeed, it is the case in the Egyptian high desert that Paleolithic artifacts can remain in-situ moving very little over vast time spans, as had been determined through survey and studies refitting flakes to cores at Abydos (Adelsberger et al. 2013).
Middle Paleolithic artifacts are found commonly on the surface of the high desert plateaus near the Nile valley throughout Egypt (Olszewski et al. 2005; Vermeersch et al. 2000). However, this group of artifacts donated by Currelly contains a mixture of Lower Paleolithic and Middle Paleolithic artifacts indicating that he either collected them from multiple locations or that he collected them from a site that was re-used in later periods (e.g. Taramsa 1, Van Peer et al. 2010). The presence of the Lower Paleolithic artifacts makes this collection especially important, as there are fewer Lower Paleolithic sites that have been found and studied in Egypt compared to the Middle Paleolithic or later sites.
Lower and Middle Paleolithic artifacts in Egypt are critical for addressing questions of early human evolution and dispersal, particularly as the Nile valley was one of the main corridors for human migration ‘out of Africa’.
Discussion of the individual object
This sub-cordiform biface has a steep notch on the distal tip. The presence of cortex around the base and covering most of one face, along with the straight profile, indicate it was made on a thin nodule rather than a flake. There are only two invasive thinning scars on the cortical face, the rest are semi-invasive and confined to the edges. On the opposite face the thinning scars come mainly from one lateral margin and are very flat, with shorter scars coming from the other lateral margin and the distal end. Multiple abrupt flake scars form a distinct notch at the distal tip. The raw material is obscured by a patina, which is heavier on the non-cortical face. Additional dimensions used for classification: width at midpoint: 6.15 cm; width at 3/4 length: 4.23 cm; thickness at midpoint: 1.59 cm; distance to maximum width: 3.95 cm.
Elizabeth Hart, J. Clawson Mills Research Fellow, 2018
References
Adelsberger, Katherine A., Jennifer R. Smith, Shannon P. McPherron, Harold L. Dibble, Deborah I. Olszewski, Utsav A. Schurmans, and Laurent Chiotti 2013. "Desert Pavement Disturbance and Artifact Taphonomy: A Case Study from the Eastern Libyan Plateau, Egypt." In Geoarchaeology 28 (2), pp. 112–30.
Olszewski, Deborah I., Harold L. Dibble, Utsav A. Schurmans, Shannon P. McPherron, and Jennifer R. Smith 2005. "High Desert Paleolithic Survey at Abydos, Egypt." In Journal of Field Archaeology 30 (3), pp. 283–303.
Van Peer, Philip, Etienne Paulissen, and Pierre M. Vermeersch 2010. Chert Quarrying, Lithic Technology and a Modern Human Burial at the Palaeolithic Site of Taramsa 1, Upper Egypt. Leuven: Leuven Univ. Press.
Vermeersch, Pierre M., Gilbert Gijselings, and Etienne Paulissen 2000. "Surface Sites." In Palaeolithic Living Sites in Upper and Middle Egypt, edited by Pierre M. Vermeersch. Leuven: Leuven University Press, pp. 19–55.
From the first platform of the Mentuhotep Temple, Deir el Bahri. Donated to the Museum by C. T. Currelly, 1906.
Hayes, William C. 1953. Scepter of Egypt I: A Background for the Study of the Egyptian Antiquities in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: From the Earliest Times to the End of the Middle Kingdom. Cambridge, Mass.: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 9–10.
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