Quina scraper
Hide and plant working
Mousterian
300 000 to 45 000 years
Characteristic scrapers are thick, often transverse with stepped and scalar retouch…
C. Farizy, A. Leroi-Gourhan Dictionnaire de la préhistoire. P.U.F, Paris, 1994
Commentary :
The edge of a Quina scraper is modified by an invasive, stepped, scale-like retouch.
This imposing scraper, usually made on a thick flake, can be securely held in the hand.
This tool is used transversally, to scrape rather than cut resistant materials. It is well adapted to working wood, and plant materials, as well as hides and certain colorants, such as red ochre.
The Quina scraper existed in Europe for nearly 300 000 years. Its high numbers in some Mousterian sites, perhaps suggests the seasonal exploitation, of a prey species, or other food resources.
The existence of specialized activities, scheduled in time, attests to the emergence of genuine strategies, for the exploitation of the environment, by Neanderthal hunters.