Levallois Core

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A core is a stone from which flakes have been detached so that the flakes can be made into tools. This one was made with a special technique called Levallois core preparation that was widely used during the Middle Paleolithic Period. The Middle Paleolithic saw the rise of more complex stone tool technologies and more variability in tool types compared to the Lower Paleolithic. This change is associated with the increasing complexity of Hominin behavior —such as specialized hunting, pyrotechnology, and the use of symbols— eventually resulting in anatomically and behaviorally modern humans. Levallois cores were made by removing flakes in a specific way, such as centripetally around an edge, so that the last flakes detached have a predetermined shape. This example is a ‘Nubian A’ type of Levallois core where preparation flakes were removed from the distal (pointed) end in order to create a central ridge that will produce a pointed flake.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.

Metropolitan Museum of Art