What's the deal with the Sahara desert points?

[Cannonman17]

What's the deal with all the bulk Sahara Desert points? I see them all over the place for next to nothing and a lot of them look pretty finely made. Who the heck is finding all these and why are there so many?

[joshuaream]

There are two factors at play.

First, pretty much the entire area of the Sahara used to be great land, filled with rivers, fish, animals and hunters. It had a dense population back in the the Neolithic period and villiage/camp sites are common.

Second, the people there now are usually herders or hunters who spend all the time walking around looking for animals. They are also extremely poor, so traders buy these pieces in bulk. I tried tracking some down in Algeria when I was on a business trip, and after a couple of days a fossil dealer told me he had some at home. I told him I didn't want to spend too much, but I ended up with a small cloth bag filled with about 1,000 pieces for about $20. I'm sure he jacked the price up several times over what he paid. I probably could have filled a 55 gallon drum with stuff for a couple hundred dollars.

The dealers here always say their stock is running out, and I'm sure it will, but it's an area the size of the United States so I think it will take a while.

[ghost recon]

Kind of makes you wonder. I got a few groups years ago for pennies each, they are finely made with " Saharan desert patina " , but I have my doubts. I saw a program recently about modern knappers in the Sahara, and in Mongolia or somewhere that are cranking out " tourist " points by the thousands and have to admit they looked awful similar, think it was on youtube or something. For pennies I figured why not, they're nicely made of fine materials I just wonder how old they really are. Here's some of mine, set me back $7.50 with shipping I believe.

[Cannonman17]

Joshua- thanks for the explanation. Ghost, that's kind of crazy! Reproducing those now too? Wouldn't think it would be worth the time at the prices they bring even at full retail.

[ghost recon]

I'm not sure man, I hope they're authentic but wouldn't be surprised if they we're recently made. What do you think? Is that a convincing patina?

[Cannonman17]

Oh jeepers, I wouldn't know. I don't know anything about them other than I've been seeing a lot of them for sale in recent years. Joshua will probably be able to tell you if they look good or not. I have to admit, they are interesting!

[joshuaream]

Ghost,

You points look good from the pictures. The first couple of years of neolithics was pretty clean from fakes, but later years have had issues.

The African stuff is now filled with rechips and fakes, but the prices are so low that no one seems to care. Once the goat herders started having points rejected for dings, they quickly learned the art of rechipping (usually they just bit the edge with their teeth.)

Then someone figured out that the willow leaf points sold for more in they had notches, and notching started. Then they started picking up the bladelets and putting a tip on them, etc... The good thing is that the rework is usually very crude. And they should have patina, so if you look at them closely you'll see the areas that have been reworked.

Mongolian neolithics are different though, not nearly as common. I say that because I think I'm the only one in the US who collects them.

Joshua

[uniface]

You probably are. But if the kind of Tibetan blade tools I saw in a National Geographic magazine picture years ago were available, I'd be on it !

[Palmwood]

There are some bargain prices that I think will be short-lived on the top quality pieces. I got this celt for $50. A Danish equivalent would be 10X that. The materials and workmanship are excellent.

[ghost recon]

Good info Joshua, thanks for weighing in on those pieces. I think it was Morocco in western Africa and not Mongolia like I said earlier.

Beautiful celt Palmwood.