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Artifact Collection (page 2)

Background imageArtifact Collection: Aurignacian tools

Aurignacian tools
A bone point, probably a spearhead and a flint end-scraper tool of Aurignacian age, 30, 000 - 34, 000 years old from France

Background imageArtifact Collection: Goughs Cave artefacts

Goughs Cave artefacts
Replicas and specimens of artefacts found in Goughs Cave, Cheddar Gorge, Somerset

Background imageArtifact Collection: Limestone lamp with ibex carved on back

Limestone lamp with ibex carved on back
Limestone lamp with ibex carving, of Magdalenian age, 11, 000 - 18, 000 years old (Upper Palaeolithic) from La Mouthe, France

Background imageArtifact Collection: Venus in limestone

Venus in limestone
Figure of a woman, or Venus, engraved in limestone, Gravettian age 22, 000 - 30, 000 years old (Upper Palaeolithic) from Abri Pataud in France. Created by Cro-Magnon man

Background imageArtifact Collection: Various carved specimens

Various carved specimens
A collection of carved specimens including ivory, coral, shell, jet & tortoise shell. A collection of carved specimens including ivory, coral, shell, jet & tortoise shell

Background imageArtifact Collection: Engraved mammoth tusk

Engraved mammoth tusk
Mammoth tusk engraved of Grevettian age. 25, 000 - 30, 000 years ago during the Upper Palaeolithic and within the great Stone Age from Dolni Vestonice, Moravia, Czech Republic

Background imageArtifact Collection: Variety of Gemstones

Variety of Gemstones
Left to right, top: Onyx, cornelian, tigers eye, jet, turquoise, lapis lazuli, hematite, jade. Bottom: Ivory, amber, coral, cultured pearl, freshwater pearl, shell, cameo

Background imageArtifact Collection: Rusty screw

Rusty screw

Background imageArtifact Collection: Hand-axes, blades & harpoon

Hand-axes, blades & harpoon
The two axe-heads on the left are from the Middle Palaeolithic about 40, 000 BC; the three specimens on the right are from the Upper Palaeolithic abot 20, 000 BC (Agfa Film)

Background imageArtifact Collection: Surface of a rusty screw

Surface of a rusty screw

Background imageArtifact Collection: Hand-axes & pebble tool

Hand-axes & pebble tool
Left to right: Pebble tool from Olduvai about 1.7 million years old; hand-axe about 1 million years old; hand-axe about 350, 000 years old

Background imageArtifact Collection: Matchstick

Matchstick
Scanning electron microscope (SEM) image showing the fractured surface of a matchstick (x 400 on a standard 9 cm wide print)

Background imageArtifact Collection: Bone needles of Magdalenian age

Bone needles of Magdalenian age
Bone needles dating back to about 15, 000 years ago. The Magdalenian tools discovered in France are believed to have belonged to early Homo sapiens who hunted reindeer during the last ice age

Background imageArtifact Collection: Flint artifact (Goughs Cave)

Flint artifact (Goughs Cave)
Creswellian flint artifacts excavated from Goughs Cave, Cheddar, Somerset dated at around 14, 000 to 12, 000 years old, late upper palaeolithic (Creswellian)

Background imageArtifact Collection: A Dodder-like climber and a harmless snake

A Dodder-like climber and a harmless snake
Watercolour by Olivia Fanny Tonge 1858-1949. 180 x 260mm. From one of sixteen sketchbooks presented to the Museum in 1952

Background imageArtifact Collection: Idol from the Marquesas Islands

Idol from the Marquesas Islands
A photograph taken during the voyage of H.M.S. Challenger (1872-1876) funded by the British Government for scientific purposes

Background imageArtifact Collection: Native of Manila, Luzon, Philippines

Native of Manila, Luzon, Philippines
A photograph taken during the voyage of H.M.S. Challenger (1872-1876) funded by the British Government for scientific purposes

Background imageArtifact Collection: Watling Collection 69-74: Portrait, tools and landscape

Watling Collection 69-74: Portrait, tools and landscape

Background imageArtifact Collection: Velcro

Velcro
A trademarked name for a fastening tape made up of a strip of nylon with a surface of minute hooks, that fasten to another strip with a surface of uncut pile. A SEM image

Background imageArtifact Collection: Eoliths from Israel

Eoliths from Israel. Crude stone pebbles found in Lower Pleistocene contexts; once thought to be the work of human agency, but now generally regarded as natural products

Background imageArtifact Collection: Hand-Axes

Hand-Axes

Background imageArtifact Collection: Womans head carved in mammoth ivory

Womans head carved in mammoth ivory
Gravettian age 25, 000 - 30, 000 years old (Upper Palaeolithic) from Dolni Vestonice, Moravia, Czech Republic

Background imageArtifact Collection: Mocha stone, sardonyx and agate

Mocha stone, sardonyx and agate
Mocha stone and sardonyx cameos resting on artificially dyed slabs of agate. All these varieties of chalcedony derive from the cryptocrystalline quartz group

Background imageArtifact Collection: Diamonds fluorescing

Diamonds fluorescing
Murchison snuff box set with diamonds fluorescing under ultra violet radiation. Gold snuff box set with diamonds ranging from 0.75 to 2.5 carats, presented to Sir R. I. Murchison by Tsar Alexander II

Background imageArtifact Collection: Flint tool

Flint tool from the Pakefield excavation site. Manmade stone tools have been discovered in Suffolk, in the UK, and indicate humans were living there at least 680, 000 years ago

Background imageArtifact Collection: Pakefield flint tools

Pakefield flint tools
Flint tools from the Pakefield excavation site. Manmade stone tools have been discovered in Suffolk, in the UK, and indicate humans were living there at least 680, 000 years ago

Background imageArtifact Collection: Hand-axe

Hand-axe
Flint hand-axe of Acheulian culture (Lower Palaeolithic) with rounded spall pot-lid split by frost action. Specimen from University of London, Institute of Archaeology

Background imageArtifact Collection: The Clacton Spear

The Clacton Spear
This spear is named after Clacton-on-sea which is where it was discovered in 1911. It dates back 450, 000 years old making it the oldest wooden spear to have been found in the British Isles

Background imageArtifact Collection: Casts of artifacts from Czech Republic

Casts of artifacts from Czech Republic
Ivory running lion, ivory ornamant and a lionesss head in fired clay; all 25, 000 - 30, 000 years old (Upper Palaeolithic) from Dolni Vestonice, Czech Republic

Background imageArtifact Collection: Dancing woman in green serpentine

Dancing woman in green serpentine

Background imageArtifact Collection: Nautilus pompilus, common nautilus

Nautilus pompilus, common nautilus
A seventeenth century carved nautilus shell showing three techniques used by Dutch craftsmen: cameo work, engraving and an opening resembling a helmet cut into the wall of the chamber

Background imageArtifact Collection: Precious opal

Precious opal
A Cameo representing the dawn, on a limonitic matrix from Australia. Opals are not truely crystalline and are therefore mineraloids. They comprise of (hydrated silica glass)

Background imageArtifact Collection: Amber artifact from Stone Age England

Amber artifact from Stone Age England
A Stone Age amber artifact 23mm in length discovered at Star Carr, Yorkshire, UK. It dates back to around 8, 000 BC

Background imageArtifact Collection: Sicilian amber carving

Sicilian amber carving
An ancient artifact of Sicilian amber, a crudely carved talisman. Image from Amber the Natural Time Capsule Fig.24

Background imageArtifact Collection: Memoirs sur le Termes

Memoirs sur le Termes, 1786

Background imageArtifact Collection: View of Middle Pleistocene site of Bilzingsleben, Germany

View of Middle Pleistocene site of Bilzingsleben, Germany
Showing the accumulation of mammal bones and artifacts. Lower Palaeolithic, 400, 000 years old. Photo by Chris Stringer

Background imageArtifact Collection: Flint hand axe (label)

Flint hand axe (label)
Photograph of a human-made hand axe, which was discovered in 1859, and is thought to be about 400, 000 years old. This close-up of the label shows the date and initials J.P, for John Prestwich

Background imageArtifact Collection: Nautilus sp. nautilus shell

Nautilus sp. nautilus shell
A carved nautilus shell, c. 1600 from the Sir Hans Sloane collection

Background imageArtifact Collection: Upper Palaeolithic carvings 11 - 18, 000 years old

Upper Palaeolithic carvings 11 - 18, 000 years old
Top: Reindeer carved from the tip of a mammoth tusk from Montastruc, France. Bottom: Bone spear-thrower with reindeer carving from Laugerie Basse, France

Background imageArtifact Collection: Neanderthal artifacts

Neanderthal artifacts
Stone tools believed to once have belonged to Neanderthal Man (Homo neanderthalensis) who lived in Gorhams Cave, Gibraltar

Background imageArtifact Collection: Gorhams Cave, Gibraltar

Gorhams Cave, Gibraltar
A view of Gorhams Cave from the sea. Neanderthal artifacts have been found, dating from the Middle Palaeolithic inside this cave system

Background imageArtifact Collection: Amber cigarette holder

Amber cigarette holder
Discovered in Romania. BM 1934, 934 A specimen from the collections of The Natural History Museum, London

Background imageArtifact Collection: Neanderthal Man artifact (Tabun)

Neanderthal Man artifact (Tabun)
A tool thought to have been used by Neanderthal Man (Homo neanderthalensis) Discovered at Tabun, Israel

Background imageArtifact Collection: Clay Toy Turtles and spiders

Clay Toy Turtles and spiders
Watercolour by Olivia Fanny Tonge (1858-1949). Captioned: Clay Toy Turtles with Heads and Legs that waggle costing one anna. Cawnpore

Background imageArtifact Collection: A Swanscombe Hand Axe

A Swanscombe Hand Axe
One of many hand axes that have been discovered at the Homo neanderthalensis site of Swanscombe, Kent which was inhabited about 500, 000 to 300, 000 years ago

Background imageArtifact Collection: Soapstone Venus

Soapstone Venus
A cast of a figure of a woman, carved in soapstone. The original was discovered in the caves of Balzi Rossi, Italy and is now held at the Museum of the National Antiquities of Saint-Germain-en-Laye

Background imageArtifact Collection: Flint hand-axe

Flint hand-axe
Late Palaeolithic from Farnham, Surrey, England

Background imageArtifact Collection: Venus figurine from the Czech Republic

Venus figurine from the Czech Republic
Female figure 27, 000 years old in fired clay from Moravia (Dolni Vestonice, Czech Republic). Gravettian culture, Upper Palaeolithic



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