These tools appear during the Upper Paleolithic, 35.000 years ago and are carved, sometimes with exquisite finesse, in bones or reindeer antlers. This material, much stronger than wood and allows all kinds of shapes, unlike flint.

Eyed needles, compound spear points, harpoons barbed on one or both sides, fish hooks are very common during the Magdalenian and still used by people of the arctic regions.

Three steps are involved in making these tools:

• Soaking of the antler or bone
• Ciseling of the antler or bone to detach a splinter
• Shaping of the splinter by scraping, ciseling, boring, polishing


This section presents the madgalenian eyed needles, azilian and magdalenian harpoons we reproduce.

All are made of reindeer, rarely deer and exclusively build with flint tools (saw, burins, dihedral burins).

The tools are polished on a sandstone and receive an ochre patina.

Harpoons

Reindeer, non hafted