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Flake discovered during the surveys in Ras Abruk
© National Museum of Qatar
Lower Paleolithic
Object Name: Flake
Period: Lower Paleolithic
Provenance: Qatar
Dimensions: 10.4 x 6.01 x 2.48 cm
Medium: flintstone
Registration Number: ARC.2008.10.272
Place Of Discovery/Findspot:  Barqa Umm Markh, Southern Ras Abruq Area
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This piece of stone is a simple flint tool. Flint is particularly well suited to making tools because it breaks in a predictable way when struck by another stone or hard object. This large flake has been detached from a core, i.e. a large piece of stone from which smaller pieces are broken to make tools. Natural flint is often surrounded by a whitish layer called cortex. This layer is visible on the edge of the flake. This simple tool may have been used for cutting and scraping, for example to shape wood, or cut up animals for food and prepare hides (animal skins). Large, simple cutting and scraping tools like this one are typical of the early Palaeolithic period (Early Stone Age), and this one suggests very early human occupation of Qatar. It comes from the southern part of the Ras Abruq peninsula, on the west coast of Qatar, which has a large number of archaeological sites dating from the early prehistoric period.
This tool was discovered during surveys in Ras Abruq Peninsula, in2008-2009.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT QATAR
Palaeolithic Period: 300,000–8000 BCE

The Palaeolithic period has generally not been well documented on the western shores of the Gulf. This is because most remains have been submerged under the waters of the Arabian Gulf due to geological conditions. Before 14,000 BCE the land was dry, after which the sea level began to rise and gradually flood the land. This continued until about 7,500 BCE when the sea stopped rising and the shoreline was left as we know it today.

As part of the Tigris-Euphrates river system, the land that is now the Gulf was lush and green, offering its inhabitants the basic means for survival including plants to gather and animals to hunt. One of the earliest pieces of evidence of human activity which has been passed down to us is the lithic industry, where types of stone were worked through various techniques to create tools. These objects have been able to withstand the test of time mainly due to the hardness of their material.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT - REGION/GULF/WORLD
The Palaeolithic, or Old Stone Age, is one of the major periods of prehistory and is characterised by the appearance of the first human species. This period is also known as the ‘Carved Stone Age’, as humans used and worked stones to create tools. The first basic tools were simple cutting, chopping and grinding tools, later evolving into more and more complex forms that were increasingly difficult to make. This period is divided chronologically into three periods: the Lower, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic, the dates of which vary between continents and populations.
PUBLICATIONS AND RESEARCH
MADSEN, B., 2008, The Archaeological Fieldwork on Ras Aburuk Qatar 2008, Part 1: The Survey [Unpublished report for Qatar Museums].
LOCATE ON QATAR MAP
Barqa Umm Markh, Southern Ras Abruq Area
locate in museum map
Gallery 3