We Have New Fascinating Items Added To The Site Every Single Day.

Wonderful and intriguing pieces, such as a Renaissance period helmet and fusetto stiletto dagger, as used by a chief Cannoneer of the Papal Army in the 16th century, up to 500 years ago, commanded by Cesare Borgia, son of the Borgia Pope, and later in the 16th century, By Matteo Barbarini, brother to Pope Urban VIIIth.

Also, many military souvenirs of all kinds from WW1 and WW2, to, say, a Spanish Conquistador's helmet of the 16th century, to Ian Fleming’s James Bond, 1960's Ist Edition books, a Baker Rifle sword-bayonet, to original samurai swords hundreds of years old.

All are original, beautiful, historical and truly intriguing pieces.

This week we will be adding some superb and inexpensive Roman and Greek antiquities, plus medieval antiquities too. We are also sending our deliveries to our clients in the UK, Australia, America, & Canada, every working day, containing the rarest and finest pieces, from books, to helmets, swords and antiquities.  read more

Code: 21779

A, Good, Rare, Heavy Plate, Original Italian Vatican Infantry Army Helmet of Pope Urban VIIIth’s Armoury, a Cabasset Helmet 1500’s. As Used By The Cannoneers of the Papal Artillery. Originally Sourced From The Papal Armoury, in The Vatican

It’s companion Cabasset helmets are now in the Vatican Historical Museum in the Lateran Palace, Rome
The defensive helmet as used by the cannoneers of Pope Urban’s Papal Army artillery, and just as would be used by the chief cannoneer in battle, in the army commanded by Mateo Barbarini, Pope Urban’s brother. A helmet worn, while also armed with the chief Cannoneers fusetto

Used in artillery combat in Papal armies, such as were once commanded by the infamous Cesare Borgia, who was an Italian cardinal and condottiero, an illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI and member of the Spanish-Aragonese House of Borgia.
His fight for power was a major inspiration for ‘The Prince’ by Niccolò Machiavelli. The Prince, one of Machiavelli's greatest works, as Machiavelli admired Borgia's undimmed ruthlessness, but mainly, because Borgia, for Machiavelli, exhibited a unity and coherence of purpose and intents that was good for the polity. {see Casare’s portrait in the gallery}


This is a Papal Army helmet from the collection of armour in the armoury of the Papal Army in Rome.
Good Heavy Italian Infantry Helmet Cabasset , hammered steel raised from a single plate, medial ridge with pear stalk finial stepped flared brim with turned over edge and in very good condition.

Provenance: From the Papal Armoury; and later acquired by London dealers Fenton & Sons Ltd. Fenton and Sons, Antique Arms and Armour, around 100 years ago. They traded in London from 1894-1927. and supplied, amongst others, the British Museum. An interesting point aside, we used to supply Fentons back in the 1920's ourselves. This and a few others were acquired by Fentons in 1919 and were listed in their catalogue. They were all from the Papal Armoury in Rome made for the Barberini family.

The Barberinis supplied the armour and cabassets for the papal army in the 16th century, a period fraught with anarchy and bandits and direct attacks on papal territories by Parma. The close association led to Maffeo Barberini becoming Pope Urban VIII. His brother Taddeo was made Supreme Commander of the Papal Army. The helmets, including this one, were from the papal armoury and served through the papal wars. It is estimated that about 4500 men served the papal army and most would have worn cabassets, making the original number of the group well over 4000. Others from the group are now in the Musio Storico Vaticano the Old Papal armoury now in the Vatican Historical Museum in the Lateran Palace, Rome.
The Papal Army was the loosely-construed army of volunteers and mercenaries in the service of the Italian Papal States, active from the 8th century until the capture of Rome by Italy in 1870. The Papal States maintained a sizeable military during the Middle Ages, using it to fight against the Holy Roman Empire and its Ghibelline allies. During the 1300s, the Papal States began to employ the services of condottieri, mercenaries who sold their services to the extremely wealthy Catholic Church. These forces would be instrumental to the defence of the Pope during the Italian Wars of the 15th and 16th centuries, with Cesare Borgia leading the Papal Army on a campaign of conquest that added several new city-states and regions to the Papal States' territories. Painting in the gallery of the Massacre of San Bartolome in the Catholic-Protestant Religious Wars, where the French crown aided by Queen Catherine de Medici, mother of the French King, with the Pope's blessing, fought ten of thousands of Huguenots what is considered the second deadliest religious war in European history (surpassed only by the Thirty Years' War, which took eight million European lives) The pope was so delighted with the battle he ordered a Te Deum to be sung as a special thanksgiving (a practice continued for many years after) and had a medal struck with the motto Ugonottorum strages,  read more

Code: 23616

An Original, WW1, German Kaiserliche Marine Vickers-Maxim I Pounder Pom Pom Shell

Imperial Kaiserliche Marine Stamped. A superb fuzed shell head fully stamped and marked. With a 37mm calibre the water-cooled, belt-fed Maxim-Nordenfeldt (among others, with variants produced as Vickers-Maxim and Hotchkiss-Maxim) was the smallest item of artillery used during that war and boasted a firing rate of 60 rounds per minute, utilising a belt of 25 one-pound shells, each shell covering a distance ranging up to 3,000 yards. In World War I, it was used as an early anti-aircraft gun in the home defence of Britain. It was adapted as the Mk I*** and Mk II on high-angle pedestal mountings and deployed along London docks and on rooftops on key buildings in London, others on mobile motor lorries at key towns in the East and Southeast of England. 25 were employed in August 1914, and 50 in February 1916. A Mk II gun (now in the Imperial War Museum, London) on a Naval pedestal mounting was the first to open fire in defence of London during the war. However, the small shell was insufficient to damage the German Zeppelin airships sufficiently to bring them down. The Ministry of Munitions noted in 1922: "The pom-poms were of very little value. There was no shrapnel available for them, and the shell provided for them would not burst on aeroplane fabric but fell back to earth as solid projectiles were of no use except at a much lower elevation than a Zeppelin attacking London was likely to keep"

Nevertheless, Lieutenant O.F.J. Hogg of No. 2 AA Section in III Corps was the first anti-aircraft gunner to shoot down an aircraft, with 75 rounds on 23 September 1914 in France.

The gun was experimentally mounted on aircraft as the lighter 1-pounder Mk III, the cancelled Vickers E.F.B.7 having been specifically designed to carry it in its nose.
Hiram Maxim originally designed the Pom-Pom in the late 1880s as an enlarged version of the Maxim machine gun. Its longer range necessitated exploding projectiles to judge range, which in turn dictated a shell weight of at least 400 grams (0.88 lb), as that was the lightest exploding shell allowed under the St. Petersburg Declaration of 1868 and reaffirmed in the Hague Convention of 1899. Dated 1905. Not suitable for export, empty inert and safe.  read more

Code: 20782

A Superb, Original, Late Queen Elizabeth Ist to King James Ist Period Miniature Pistol. Late 1500's, To The Turn of The 17th Century, Functioning Miniature Pistol

A tiny pistol, made in bronze, many hundreds of years ago, to fire off, likely for the entertainment of the nobility and their children. Dark blue-black bronze age patination

An extraordinary little piece of rarely known history, from the earliest age of the black powder pistol. These intriguing miniature functioning pistols were called petronel, named after the original early name of matchlock and wheellock pistols, and very much of the period, from the Elizabethan to the Carolean age.

A petronel is a 16th and 17th century black powder muzzle-loading firearm, defined by Robert Barret (Theorike and Practike of Modern Warres, 1598) as a horsemans peece. It was the muzzle-loading firearm which developed on the one hand into the pistol and on the other into the carbine. The name (French petrinel or poitrinal) was given to the weapon either because it was fired with the butt resting against the chest (French poitrine, Latin pectus) or it was carried slung from a belt across the chest. Petronels are found with either matchlock or wheellock mechanisms.

The sclopus was the prototype of the petronel. The petronel is a compromise between the harquebus and the pistol. Early petronels date back to the end of the 14th century, with a crude buttstock. Generally the touch hole is on the right side, and fired by a separate slow match. Sometimes they had small hinged plate covers to protect the priming from moisture. By extension, the term petronel was also used to describe the type of light cavalry who employed the firearm. The petronel (cavalryman) was used to support the heavy cavalry such as demi-lancers and cuirassiers. The petronel was succeeded by a similarly armed cavalryman called the harquebusier.

Every single item from The Lanes Armoury is accompanied by our unique Certificate of Authenticity. Part of our continued dedication to maintain the standards forged by us over the past 100 years of our family’s trading  read more

Code: 25074

An 1801 Pattern Baker Rifle Sword {Bayonet}. Brass D Hilt & Single Edged Long Sword Blade

Traditional ribbed grip hilt, flattened section knucklebow, slightly bent quillon with long retaining spring, released by press catch. 23 inch steel flat sided single edged blade with return false edge. No maker markings remaining.

The sword that affixes to the end of a rifle as a bayonet. However, as all British Army riflemen know, the rifleman carries a sword, not a bayonet, despite it looking and acting as one. The rifle was used throughout the entire Peninsular Wars, the War of 1812 in America and Waterloo, by the world's greatest marksmen to fight for King and Country. This is not the denigrate our cousins, the American Riflemen of course, but they were not fighting for King and Country.

The British army had learned the value of rifles from their experience in the American rebellion in the 1770's. However, existing rifle designs were considered to be to cumbersome, slow-firing, fragile or expensive to be put to use on any scale beyond irregular companies. Rifles had been issued on a limited basis and consisted of parts made to no precise pattern, often brought in from Prussia. The war against Revolutionary France resulted in the employment of new tactics, and the British Army responded, albeit with some delay. Prior to the formation of an Experimental Rifle Corps in 1800, a trial was held at Woolwich by the British Board of Ordnance on 22 February 1800 in order to select a standard rifle pattern; the rifle designed by Ezekiel Baker was chosen.

Colonel Coote Manningham, responsible for establishing the Rifle Corps, influenced the initial designs of the Baker. The first model resembled the British Infantry Musket, but was rejected for being too heavy. Baker was provided with a German Jager rifle as an example of what was needed. The second model he made had a .75 calibre bore, the same calibre as the Infantry Musket. It had a 32-inch barrel, with eight rectangular rifling grooves; this model was accepted as the Infantry Rifle, but more changes were made until it was finally placed into production. The third and final model had the barrel shortened from 32 to 30 inches, and the calibre reduced to .653, which allowed the rifle to fire a .625 calibre carbine bullet, with a greased patch to grip the now-seven rectangular grooves in the barrel. The rifle had a simple folding backsight with the standard large lock mechanism (marked 'Tower' and 'G.R.' under a Crown, although later ones had 'Enfield,' but these only saw service after Waterloo), with a swan-neck cock as fitted to the 'Brown Bess.' Like the German Jager rifles, it had a scrolled brass trigger guard to help ensure a firm grip and a raised cheek piece on the left-hand side of the butt. Like many rifles, it had a 'butt-trap' or patchbox where greased linen patches and tools could be stored. The lid of the patchbox was brass, and hinged at the rear so it could be flipped up. The stocks were made of walnut and held the barrel with three flat captive wedges. The rifle also had a metal locking bar to accommodate up to a 23- inch sword bayonet, similar to that of the Jager rifle. The Baker was 45 inches from muzzle to butt, 12 inches shorter than the Infantry Musket, and weighed almost nine pounds. Gunpowder fouling in the grooves made the weapon much slower to load and affected its accuracy, so a cleaning kit was stored in the patch box of the Baker; the Infantry Muskets were not issued with cleaning kits.  read more

Code: 25073

A Superb Group of Four Medals WW1 Trio, and Third Afghan War, 1919 Afghanistan Bar, India General Service Medal

The North Staffordshire Regiment served with heroism and distinction in WW1, and the 2nd battalion served in Afghanistan after WW1 in 1919.
In May 1919, as the world recovered from the First World War, Afghanistan invaded British India. A daring move, the invasion took the British and Indian governments by surprise. To repel the Afghans, they launched a massive land and air campaign, mobilising a third of a million troops. Despite facing this military might, the Afghans - aided by the North-West Frontier tribes - almost won the war.


Frontier Assault tells the story of the Third Anglo-Afghan War through the eyes of the men who fought it. The North Staffordshire Regiment was one of the first units dispatched to halt the Afghan advance. They defeated the enemy vanguard in a tenacious mountain assault in the Khyber Pass. After, they led the British counter-attack into Afghanistan.

In WW1 the regiment were part of the Staffordshire Brigade,

Private Sidney Richards, who came from West Bromwich and had been employed as a clerk before the war, served with the Machine Gun Section of the. He recorded his experiences in his pocket diary:

2nd April Rifle inspection. Marched to trench at Messines. Took trenches over from 3rd Monmouths.

3rd April On look-out. Duty man in my trench had his brains blown out by a sniper. Raining very heavy.

4th April Raining heavy. Had no rations brought to us. Shortage of water. Up to our knees in mud.

5th April Simply awful. Raining all day and night. Shells bursting all over the shop. All I have to eat is 1 biscuit - would give a fortune for a dish of tea.

6th April More shells. Plenty of mud. Weather a little better. Relieved at 10 p.m. Got to camp 2 a.m. Wed.The threat posed by snipers was a constant feature of trench warfare. Initially at least, the units of the Brigade were woefully ill-equipped to conduct sniping from their own lines, as they had neither specialist rifles or telescopic sights. Several men had lucky escapes, such as Sergeant C. F. Rose, a soldier from Stone serving with the 1/5th North Staffords:

"I had a narrow shave of getting blinded in both eyes. I was looking at the German trenches through a periscope, when a German sniper hit the top glass with a bullet, and the glass falling in small pieces filled my eyes. I thought I had been shot, for it was sharp work for the eyes. I am getting on all right now, but have been pretty bad."

Captain William Millner of the 1/5th South Staffords also narrowly avoided being killed while sniping on 5th May. One of the best shots in the country at that time, Millner was an excellent candidate for the role. While observing German movements from the barn of one of the farms close to the front line, he too was wounded by an enemy sniper. The bullet hit the cap badge of his service dress cap and creased his skull. Luckily, his injury was not serious and after a brief period of recovery returned to his battalion.

German snipers were also quarry for the Staffords, patrols being sent out into "No-Man's Land" to hunt them down. Sergeant Sydney Norton, a member of "C" Company, 1/6th North Staffords, reported the results of one such patrol in a letter to his wife in Tamworth:

"...me and another Sergt. the day before found a sniper. We watched his antics for two hours and I placed the rifle at him, bowled him over the third shot and then got back to our trench. It's clinking sport like looking for game. They are very smart. We saw a dead cow in front of our trench. We fired a volley into it and the next day the Sergts. went out and found a dead sniper inside it, so you can tell the antics of war craft they get up to."

The last photo in the gallery is of Frontier Assault by James Green not included with group, just a suggestion. This might make a nice North Staffordshire Regt. Afghan War history book accompaniment for the medal  read more

Code: 25071

A J Nowill & Son 'Crossed Keys' Fairbairn Sykes Commando Knife (Crossed Keys & Star over D) with Broad Arrow & Scabbard

Marked with the crossed keys and * over D on the hilt which is J Nowill & Sons mark, plus, a Broad Arrow mark and diamond stamp. The Broad Arrow was a Government ownership mark was phased out in the 1980's.

The cross keys are the makers mark of John Nowill & Sons, Sheffield, established 1700.The British Fairbairn Sykes dagger officially made, issued service dagger, was created for the newly formed 'Special Forces' commandos. The story about the Fairbairn Sykes Fighting knife starts in England 1940.
In 1940 the British formed special commandos to carry out raids. The initiative came from Winston Churchill in 1940. On the 8 June 1940, Section M09 of the War Office was brought into being. The name commando was taken from small effective mobile Boer units during the war in South Africa 1899-1902.

Two of the first instructors were Captain William Ewart Fairbairn (b. 28 February 1885, d. 20 June 1960) and Captain Eric Anthony Sykes (b. 5 February 1883, d. 12 May 1945). These middle aged gentlemen trained the young soldiers in a new and difficult mode of close-combat fighting at the Commando Basic Training Centre, Achnacarry, Scotland. Churchill described the commandos as 'a steel hand from the sea'

The need for a proper fighting knife, for these commandos, was apparent from the first few weeks of training specialized personnel. As Fairbairn later wrote, "...the authorities did not recognize a fighting knife as part of the equipment of the fighting services. In fact, such a thing as a fighting knife could not be purchased anywhere in Great Britain."

Until now, there had never been an official knife for the British armed services, although many types of knife had been authorised for use in the past. Bowie style knives were carried by some of the Imperial Yeomantry during the South African War of 1900-1901, and in World War I cut-down bayonets, privately purchased hunting knives, or captured German issue folding knives were extensively utilised.

In November 1940 there was a meeting between W. E. Fairbairn, E. A. Sykes and Robert Wilkinson Latham at Wilkinson Sword Company.

Fairbairn and Sykes described the type of knife they envisioned and the purpose for which it was intended. As discussion continued, preliminary sketches were drawn up and modified time and time again. As Robert Wilkinson Latham tells it: 'In order to explain exactly their point, the two men rose to their feet and one, it was Fairbairn my grandfather mentioned, grabbed the wood ruler from his desk and the two men danced around the office in mock combat'. W. E. Fairbairn had also brought with him an example of a suitable fighting knife.
The system they devised utilised techniques drawn from Jiu Jitsu, Gatka, Kung Fu and 'Gutter Fighting'. It proved extremely effective. They were natural choices for the job. Both had served in the Shanghai Municipal Police Force, facing death daily in the dark, narrow streets and alleys of the city against armed thugs and organised gangs. In Shanghai they had made some fighting knives out of bayonets. The meeting resulted in the Fairbairn Sykes Fighting knife that was manufactured by Wilkinson Sword Co. They eventually changed the design a number of times to evolve into the current 3rd pattern. The 1st pattern is by far the rarest, and the fewest types of FS ever made, as the second pattern, and the other variant's were produced fairly quickly after the first pattern's original order from the British Government, issued on the 14th November 1940, was fulfilled by January 1941. 6¾” double edged blade in forged carbon steel with blued finish. Cast metal alloy handle with steel guard. Original design, 3rd Pattern. current post war pattern, Falklands to gulf war period, apparently bought by original deceased owner, a one time commando, around 30 years ago, and kept in storage for around 20 years

Overall in superb condition with fully mirror blued blade, blacked ribbed 3rd pattern FS knife grip, {with service wear marks} blackend crossguard with all the markings as previously described. Brown leather scabbard with stitching tabs and blackened brass chape. Elastic hilt retainer. One tab partially removed  read more

Code: 25070

A Very Fine and Beautiful, Original 16th Century ‘Conquistadors.’ Type Morion Helmet, Captured From the Spanish Armada Attempted Invasion of Britain. Used by All Ranks, Commanders and Warriors Alike

The traditional 'pear stalk crown' with wide upslanting brim. All the lining rivets intact. Small hole in the rear brim to attach feather plumes or to hang the helmet behind the soldiers backplate armour when not worn. The form of helmet worn by the Spanish during the attempted invasion of England, and by the Spanish explorer warriors [conquistadors] that colonised much of South America. Taken as war booty, often using early diving bell technology, from the sunken Spanish fleet's attempt to destroy the British using its seemingly unstoppable Armada of 130 ships against Queen Elizabeth Ist.
Met by the British fleet, under Sir Francis Drake's commanded, he engaged the superior gunned Spanish during a storm, that ultimately led to his fleet to victory against the Spanish fleet, and effectively crushed the planned invasion. The Spanish fleet fled in fear and mostly met its doom on the coast of Ireland, and North Britain, caught in persistant storms and foul weather. The Spanish Armada campaign of 1588 changed the course of European history. If Medina Sidonia, the Spanish commander, had managed to escort Philip II’s 26,000-strong invasion army from Flanders, the future of Elizabeth I and her Protestant England would have looked very black indeed.

After landing near Margate in Kent, it is probable the battle-hardened Spanish troops would have been in the streets of London within a week. England would have reverted to the Catholic faith, and there may not have been a British empire to come. We might indeed still be speaking Spanish today.

But Medina Sidonia suffered one of the most signal catastrophes in naval history.

The Spanish were not only defeated by the queen’s plucky sea dogs fighting against overwhelming odds: it was utterly destroyed by appalling weather, poor planning and flawed strategy and tactics. Interestingly at least four of Medina's so-called gentlemen adventurers were English, and there were 18 among the salaried officers.

Inevitably, some of the traitorous swine paid the heavy price of disloyalty to the British crown: five Catholics slipped away by boat from the stricken Rosario before Drake’s arrival, but two Englishmen were captured on board and taken to the Tower of London as rebels and traitors to their country.

One, identified as the Cornishman Tristram Winslade, was handed to officers employed by Elizabeth’s spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, who were ordered to interrogate him using torture at their pleasure. Miraculously, Winslade survived the rack and Elizabeth’s justice, and died in the Catholic seminary at Douai in France in November 1605).

On board the battle-damaged San Mateo, beached between Ostend and Sluis after the battle of Gravelines, two Englishmen were killed by Dutch sailors one named as William Browne, a brother of Viscount Montague. The local commissioner for the Protestant States of Zeeland reported that the second man killed was very rich, who left William as his heir.

Other Englishmen were reported to having been aboard this ship, eating with her captain, Don Diego Pimentel. One was called Robert, another Raphael, once servant to the mayor of London. We do not know their surnames. They may have been among those forcibly drowned or hanged by the Dutch who were rebelling against Spanish rule. Medina, however, was no fool and although a great commander, and considering his appointment as admiral of the Armada for two days, Medina Sidonia made clear his absolute conviction that the Armada expedition was a grave mistake and had little chance of success. Only a miracle, he added in a frank and outspoken letter, could save it.

King Philip of Spain’s counsellors, horror-struck at its electrifying contents, dared not show it to the king. ‘Do not depress us with fears for the fate of the Armada because in such a cause, God will make sure it succeeds” they begged the new admiral.
As for his suitability for command, “nobody knows more about naval affairs than you “ they stated.
Then their tone became menacing: “Remember that the reputation and esteem you currently enjoy for courage and wisdom would entirely be forfeited if what you wrote to us became generally known (although we shall keep it secret)”. The Spanish Armada was not the last Armada sent against England. Two more were despatched in 1596 and 1597, but these fleets were also dispersed by storms.

Cannon and armour such as this were in fact recovered from the Spanish wrecks using diving bell technology in the 1590’s. Effectively huge bronze church bells.

Staying submerged began as a simple trick, a novelty meant mostly for spectacle. But like most human exploration, the underwater landscape became appealing for its latent revenue opportunities. At first, diving bells appear to have been most heavily used in the pearl and sponge industries. Then, in 1531, the Italian inventor Guglielmo de Lorena came up with a new application. Using slings to attach a bell to his body, he could collect treasure from capsized Roman ships. After the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, according to Francis Bacon, Spanish prisoners spread the word that their captors’ riches had sunk off the coast of Scotland; industrious divers used bells to recover cannon armour and booty.
The first account of diving bells comes from Aristotle in the 4th century B.C. Legend has it Aristotle’s pupil Alexander the Great went on to build “a very fine barrel made entirely of white glass” and used it in the Siege of Tyre in 332 B.C. However, the facts of Alexander the Great’s adventures come mostly from depictions in fragments of ancient art and literature, which render him as a demigod who conquered the darkness and returned to the dry realm of historians and poets.
 read more

Code: 21777

Princess Victoria's (Royal Irish Fusiliers) OR's fur cap grenade circa 1890

Die-stamped brass, the ball bearing Eagle on a tablet inscribed '8'.
The Eagle and '8' represents the flagstaff eagle of the 8th French Light Infantry captured by Sgt Patrick Masterson of the 87th Fusiliers at Barossa on 5th March 1811. It is 3.75 inches long. The French Imperial Eagle was the emblem of the Grande Armee of Napoleon I, and during the Peninsular War of 1808-1814 and the Battle of Waterloo, the capture of an eagle by enemy troops was a massive blow to any regiment.

In the instance of the Battle of Barrosa, in 1811, the British captured their first ever eagle. The captor was an Irish Sergeant of the 87th (Royal Irish Fusiliers) Regiment of Foot. Looking at the history of the battle  read more

Code: 20306

One of The Earliest Pieces of Its Kind You May See Anywhere In the World, An Original Man-Made Weapon and Tool A Most Fine, Large, Palaeolithic 300,000 Year Old Stone Age Hand Axe

A most fine and impressive axe of large size and in superb condition. An axe one could only normally expect to see in the British Museum or the Smithsonian. Only a few months ago, another very similar example, also determined to be 300,000 years old, was found in Kent, and it made world news, appearing in hundreds of newspapers and news programmes around the globe.

It is simply incredible to try to comprehend just how long human kind walked the earth with so little improvement in weapon and tool making. from the Palaeolithic right through to the Neolithic age covering around 300,000 years and it wasn't until less than 5,000 years ago that the move from stone to bronze enabled the incredible leap forward right through to the modern day. From bronze age axes and spears to flights to Mars, in under 5000 years, yet for the previous 295,000 years we made little or no progress at all, such as from big knapped flint axes, to small polished ones.

To put the time frame in today's context, when Anthony and Cleopatra were conducting their famous affair in ancient Egypt, over 2000 years ago, this flint axe would have still been 298,000 years old to them.

Precisely when and where did our species emerge Anthropologists have struggled with that question for decades, and scattered clues had suggested the answer lay somewhere in sub-Saharan Africa about 200,000 years ago.

However, new evidence now exists as outlined in two papers published in the journal Nature that challenges that hypothesis. Instead, the authors describe recently discovered remains that suggest the first Homo sapiens showed up more than 100,000 years earlier than we thought in a place many experts didn't suspect.

The fossils could represent the earliest known examples of H. sapiens ever found (if confirmed by further research), and they serve as evidence that members of our species lived beyond sub-Saharan Africa. As with all our items it will be accompanied with our lifetime guarantee Certificate of Authenticity. 8.25 inches long very substantial & weighty  read more

Code: 22746