This large retouched chert macroblade is from the Tilemsi region of eastern Mali.  Retouched macroblades are occasionally found on Tilemsi sites dating to ca. 4500-7500 BP, during the Sahara-Sudanese Neolithic period.  They occur alongside a variety of blade-based and bifacial arrowheads, including stemmed Tilemsi Points.  Their large size suggests that they were spear points or hafted knives.

 

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This tool was made on a large blade, with the lateral margins retouched by steep unifacial percussion.  At the pointed end of the tool, the distal ends of the flake scars on one margin were used as the platform for thinning and shaping the tip.  This unusual reduction approach created a trifacial distal end.  Some archaeologists have suggested that there were specialist flintknappers making tools like these in the Tilemsi region.