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2018-09-26 17:18:52   •   ID: 2027

Triangular Handaxes from Lenderscheid N–Hessen

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Triangular Handaxes are the most geometrized artifacts during the European Mousterian with blurred boundaries to the more common cordiform variants-see here: 1350 , 1521 , 1288 , 1534 and here: 1077

This is a small triangular Handaxe from the Lenderscheid site, mentioned during some earlier Posts. The pictures courteously come from the Dr. Heribert Heidenreich Collection.

Francois Bordes, who visited the Lenderscheid Collections, which were later sold to the “Hessisches Landesmuseum”, was sure that these Handaxes were the most N/E- Manifestation of the Mousterian with Acheulean Tradition (MTA / MAT).

Of course, triangular Handaxes from the last Glacial are known from S/W-France (the “heartland “of the MTA) and from N/W-France also. See: 1536 .

In S/W-France, according to older excavations such Handaxes are part of ensembles with many cordiform handaxes and at least always some backed knifes.

In N /W- France, there is a plethora of differentiated technocomplexes from MIS5d-3, among them, some old quarry "MTA" -ensembles like:

  • St Juste en Chaussee
  • Catigny
  • Marcoing
  • Hamel
  • Bihorel Serie rousse
  • Bons –Tassilly
  • St Jacques sur Darntal


These ensembles show cordiform and triangular handaxes, a Levallois mode of production and some backed knifes.

Saint-Amand-les-Eaux (Nord), excavated with up-to-date-methods, is an atelier for the selective production of wonderful Triangular and Cordiform Bifaces, dated by TL to 56-58 k.a.

Other Bifacial ensembles in the Vienne, Normandie and Bretagne are quite different as already described here: 1179 , here 1665 , here: 1250 , 1585 , and here: 1077 . Such assemblages are ascribed to the Mousterian with bifacial Tools.

Along the Rhine and in Westphalia we know about 100 cordiform bifaces from a post-MIS5e context. There is not a single in-situ ensemble that was excavated.

Triangular handaxes are well known from the KMG (“Micoquian”) interaction sphere (MIS3), for example from the Weinberghöhlen and Schambach in S- Germany and Prodnik Ensembles in Poland.

In N-Hessen there is a cluster of sites with triangular Bifaces: Lenderscheid, Röhrsheim, Wahlen and the younger series of Hausen. Because these are surface findings, we have no information about the original composition of the Assemblages.

We do not suggest a genuine MTA-context, but rather think that the production of these triangular Bifaces was embedded in the Middle/East -European Micoquian (KMG) with Leaf points.

Lenderscheid-Surf the Blog: see here 1624 , here 1712 , and here: 1625 .

Provenance: The piece is ipart of the Heidenteich Collection housed in Tübingen



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