Les Gestes de la Préhistoire

An audiovisual encyclopedia to discover prehistory

Prondnickmesser

Cutting meat

Middle Palaeolithic
300 000 to 45 000 years

 

The “Prondnik knife” is defined by these traits, to which can be added a distal longitudinal removal that thins edge.
M. Otte, Le Paléolithique inférieur et moyen en Europe. Armand Colin, 1996

 

Commentary : 

During the Central European Middle Palaeolithic, about 50 000 years ago, bifaces are the most common flint tools.

The prondnikmesser is an asymmetrical biface with one end and side thinned by a longitudinal removal, that renders the edge extremely sharp.

This tool is mainly used for butchery.

Its abundance in Central Europe, reveals the existence of a Neanderthal technological tradition, in this region.

 

Technical informations

Length: 04:20

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