NORTHERN EUROPEAN STONE AGE ARTIFACTS BY PALATINA AUTHENTICITY GUARANTEED Description This superb Neolithic flint artifact is called "Crescent-Shaped Flint Sickle with convex rear and front edge", fashioned from a flake , the primary flaking surface being still visible on the back. Belonging to the Late Dagger Culture 2400-1800 bc and the earliest part of Bronze Age. The last period of the Stone Age coincided with the early Bronze Age in the British Isles and Central Europe. Weapons and tools made of copper and bronze were introduced and provided a challenge for those who made flint tools. The result can be seen in the excellent examples of imitations in flint of foreign bronze daggers. At the end of the period, the production of metal implements finally gained a foothold, and there is evidence of an emerging new social stratification. This is reflected in finds from settlements with both small and much larger long houses. Burial customs varied from simple interments below ground or in passage graves, to burials in stone cists or log coffins covered with large mounds. Crescent-shaped flint sickles occur in a large number of types in the late Neolithic period. the are found occasionally in graves but more frequently as stray finds or, singly or several together, as votive deposits or depots, sometimes in association with other objects typical of this period. They occur in a semi-manufactured state on flint-knapping sites. The marks of wear, and the special shaping of some of the specimens, show that they have been mounted on a bent haft which curved around one end and the convex rear edge. The present variations of shape of the specimens discovered are often due to the varying length of time they have been in use, for in a very large number of cases indications can be seen of one or more resharpening of the blade, the lower edge gaining a steeper curbe with each resharpening. They are undoubtedly based upon metal prototypes, some bronze sickles occuring, which perhaps belong to this period, though their date cannot be accurately fixed. All the specimens are flat-flaked on both sides except for the one which is fashioned from a flake. These objects were formerly interpreted as saws. This wonderful sickle is 74 mms long. Provenance is an old collection. More details will follow the sickle. I guarantee absolutely for the authenticity of this artifact from the Younger Stone Age. Any questions? palatina@online.de Please view also my other auctions with relics from the European Prehistory.