Timeless are pleased to offer a beautiful British Neolithic scraper dating around 4500 - 6000 years.
Scrapers are by far the most common lithic tool in all periods of prehistory. They are found in many different forms (this particular piece is a side-scraper) and were used, it is thought, to process animal pelt. However, it's possible that they were also used to work wood and bone, or even hafted into wood or antler handles.
When making small handtools, our ancestors would take a nodule of flint (termed a core) and using a hammerstone, or if pressure-flaking, an antler tine, would remove small pieces of flint by knapping the core.
The process is much more involved than described here, and an experienced knapper would have displayed an amazing degree of control when shaping the flint. Today, we classify the smaller flint tools as blades (where its length is twice its width), bladelets (small blades whose width is less than 12mm) and flakes (everything else).
Scrapers could be made from either blades or flakes. This particular side scraper has been made from a flint blade.
One of many prehistoric flint tools now available in the Timeless Galleries
STONE AGE SCRAPER
Acquired by Timeless on the UK antiquities market, 2019. Originally discovered in the home counties, UK.