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ATERIAN
POINTS This tanged Aterian point is reported to have been collected on a site in southern Morocco. It was made from simple thick flakes struck from a Levallois core. The Aterian culture dates to the late middle Paleolithic period, sometime before 40,000 years ago and came to an end about 30,000 years ago. Aterian points were developed out of the Mousterian stone tool industry characterized by Levallois technology. Tanged Aterian points are very heavy duty projectile points. The smaller examples (they are reported up to 8 or 9 inches (20 to 22 cm) long) are believed to have been hafted onto darts or spears that were thrown by atlatls (spear throwers). These points were used to hunt large grazing animals such as white rhinoceros, extinct camels and large bovine and smaller animals like gazelle, fox, jackal, warthog, antelopes and ostrich.
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