The Palaeolithic period began about 2 million years ago with mans first use of stone tools and lasted until the introduction of agriculture with the Neolithic people 8000 years ago.

The Palaeolithic peoples were primarily hunter-gatherers centred around clan leadership. The era can be divided into three sections - the upper, middle and lower. The lower is the oldest at 120,000 to 2 million years ago (the time of Homo Erectus and the hand-axe). The middle is 30,000 to 300,000 years (the time of Neanderthal man and when core flake tools first appeared) - and the upper is 10,000 to 30,000 years ago when Cro-Magnon man appeared. This is when language and cave-art first made an appearance.

Survival and technological skills during this period were high. As well as huge hand-axes there are also knives, arrows, spears, clubs as well as tools such as awls and needles. Most were made from stone with the occasional animal bone, wood and clay artefact appearing.

The Neolithic period was the latter part of the Stone-Age and even over-laps with the Bronze age in certain regions. It began when man ceased the nomadic way of life and started settling in agricultural communities. As well as hunting, they started keeping livestock and growing crops in annual cycles. It lasted until the first metal-tools were introduced 4000 - 4500 years ago with the Iron and Bronze Ages.

Both periods provide a plethora of collectable pieces, each unique and hand-made thousands of years ago. To hold a handaxe knowing it was used in the basic, everyday survival by our earliest ancestors is a wonderful experience. The smaller blades and celts can show worn sections where ancient fingers have gripped and come in a variety of sizes.

Arrowheads, particularly Neolithic ones shown an incredible variety of styles and were used in almost all areas of life at that time.

Unfortunately, with these items being popular collectables there are numerous fakes on the market. Be sure to trust your seller as it can often be very difficult to identify fakes.

Where do they come from?

The majority of arrowheads on the market today were found in North West Africa. This is not a reflection on the density of usage of these items but more a reflection of the areas current climate - being very arid it makes it easier to find these items.

The Sahara is the world's largest hot desert, over 9,000,000 km² (3,500,000 mi²), almost as large as the United States. The Sahara is located in northern Africa and is 2.5 million years old. Its name, Sahara, is an English pronunciation of the word for desert in Arabic.

The boundaries of the Sahara are the Atlantic Ocean on the west, the Atlas Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea on the north, the Red Sea and Egypt on the east, and the Sudan and the valley of the Niger River on the south. The Sahara is divided into western Sahara, the central Ahaggar Mountains, the Tibesti Mountains, the Aïr Mountains (a region of desert mountains and high plateaus), Tenere desert and the Libyan desert (the most arid region). The highest peak in the Sahara is Emi Koussi (3415 m) in the Tibesti Mountains in northern Chad.

The Sahara divides the continent of Africa into North and Sub-Saharan Africa. The southern border of the Sahara is marked by a band of semiarid savanna called the Sahel; south of the Sahel lies the lusher Sudan and the Congo River Basin.

During the Late Neolithic period (approx 4000BC – 2000BC) the Sahara had a much wetter climate (sometimes known as the Aqualithic) and was akin to modern day North America.

Arrowheads are typically collected and traded by the local nomadic peoples of the Sahara, they find them as the sand dunes move and they travel around seasonally grazing their herds. Finding and collecting items such as these provides them with a reasonable, stable income.