Description

Small worked flints like this one are the evidence for grain cultivation early in Egypt's Predynastic history, during the Paleolithic and Neolithic.

Small geometric flints, usually rectangular or trapezoidal, have been found in many parts of Egypt near the Nile, and in the Fayuum, and all the way out to the remote Khargh and Siwa Oases.  When halfted in a wooden handle, or the jawbone of a large animal, they formed the cutting edge of a sickle to reap grain. Abrasion from the siliceous stalks leaves a polished sheen on the cutting edge.  This sheen is the evidence for deliberate grain harvesting.