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ATERIAN POINTS
NORTH AFRICA
ATERIAN CULTURE
LATE MIDDLE PALEOLITHIC
45,000 TO 30,000 YEARS AGO
PAGE 1 OF 2 PAGES
COPYRIGHT APRIL 30, 2006 PETER A. BOSTROM
Four stemmed Aterian points.
 TANGED ATERIAN POINTS
LATE MIDDLE PALEOLITHIC
MOROCCO, NORTH AFRICA
PRIVATE COLLECTION

    These four tanged or stemmed Aterian points are made of a very good quality semi-translucent chert. They all have a heavy surface patina and are smoothed on the surface from wind blown sand. The smallest example at the bottom measures 1 3/8 inches (33.5 cm) long.

     Aterian points vary considerably in size from a little over an inch (3 cm) to about 8 or 9 inches (20 to 22 cm) long. The smaller points were undoubtedly used on darts or spears that were thrown by atlatls. The larger examples may have been used on thrusting spears or as knives.

Stemmed Aterian points.
 CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGE IMAGE
TANGED ATERIAN POINTS
LATE MIDDLE PALEOLITHIC
MOROCCO, NORTH AFRICA
PRIVATE COLLECTION

     The 33 tanged Aterian points pictured here are reported to have come from sites located in southern Morocco. They represent typical examples of projectile points from the Aterian stone tool manufacturing industry. These points were made from various types of cherts of good quality. They range in size from the largest example in the center, 2 5/8 inches (6.6 cm) long to the smallest located at far right second row, 1 5/16 inches (3.3 cm) long.

    Aterian stemmed points were made from a range of high and low quality materials. The majority of the examples in the collection shown here were made from various cherts of fairly good quality. A very few of them are made of a semi-translucent material that might compare to good quality agate or chalcedony. Several others are made from a grainy material that may be basalt. The majority of these points are heavily patinated with a desert varnish caused from wind blown sand.

Stemmed Aterian points.
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGE IMAGE
TANGED ATERIAN POINTS
LATE MIDDLE PALEOLITHIC
MOROCCO, NORTH AFRICA
PRIVATE COLLECTION

   The 27 tanged Aterian points pictured here are reported to have been collected on sites in southern Morocco. They are all typical examples of Aterian dart or spear points that were made from thick flakes. Both sides remain unaltered except for edge trimming to shape the stem or tang hafting element. The points illustrated here were made from a dull grainy material that appears to be basalt. The range in size from 1 1/2 inches (3.8 cm) long to 2 5/8 inches (6.6 cm) long.

    Tanged or stemmed Aterian points are heavy duty points of simple design. They were made from thick flakes that were flaked to a point on one end and notched on either side of the bulb-of-percussion to form wide shoulders and a tang on the other end. Aterian points are not the most skillfully crafted projectile point but they were obviously a successful design.

Stemmed Aterian point scrapers.
TANGED ATERIAN POINTS-SCRAPERS
LATE MIDDLE PALEOLITHIC
MOROCCO, NORTH AFRICA
PRIVATE COLLECTION

     The Aterian lithic complex also contains hafted scrapers. These 9 examples were reported to have been found on sites in southern Morocco. The scraper located at bottom center measures 1 15/16 inches (5 cm) long.

    Forty thousand years ago, northern Africa was a green savanna grassland. The Aterian people were spreading out into what is today the Sahara desert. This climatic improvement also brought large numbers of grazing animals. The Aterian site called BT-14 is described as a huge Aterian kill site. Aterian hunters were taking both large and small species such as, white rhinoceros, extinct camel, large bovid, wild ass, gazelle, fox, jackal, warthog, antelopes, ostrich, turtle and birds.

Stemmed Aterian point.
 CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGE TRIPLE IMAGE
TANGED ATERIAN POINT
LATE MIDDLE PALEOLITHIC
MOROCCO, NORTHWEST AFRICA
PRIVATE COLLECTION

     This is a typical example of a tanged Aterian point. It was reported to have been collected on a site in southern Morocco. This point was made from a flake that was trimmed to a point on one end and notched on both sides of the bulb-of-percussion on the other to form the tang. The edge view in the center gives a good view of the bulb-of-percussion, located on the tang, where the original flake, that was used to make this point, was originally detached from the core. This point is made of a dark grainy material that appears to be basalt. It measures 2 inches (5.1 cm) long, 1 1/8 inches (2.8 cm) wide and 3/8 inch (1 cm) thick.

    Stemmed Aterian points are not the best looking projectile points in the world, especially if you compared them to later examples from other regions. But their prolific numbers and their apparent success at hunting both large and small game proves they were the perfect tool for their time. Aterian people were doing pretty well to produce such an ingenious invention using Neanderthal technology.

"REFERENCES"

1946, Canton-Thompson, G., "The Aterian Industry: Its Place and Significance In The Paleolithic World," The Huxley Memorial Lecture for 1946, p.89.
1971, Clark, J. Desmond, "African Beginnings," "The Horizon History of Africa," p.29
1975, Ferring, C. Reid, "The Aterian In North African Prehistory," "Problems In Prehistory: North Africa And The Levant,"  pp. 113-126.
1975, Jelinek, J., "The Evolution of Man," p. 147.
1984, Hoffman, Michael A., "Egypt Before The Pharaohs," pp. 66-70.
1988, Tattersall, Ian, Delson, Eric & Couvering, John Van, "Aterian," "Encyclopedia of human Evolution And Prehistory," p. 62.

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