Pre-Columbian Neolithic Celt from Western Panama

Item PL01           

This Item was Sold on 17 January 2011 for $21


Similar artifacts for sale are often found on the Panama Lithic Artifacts web page. 

Historical Pricing information for this item and similar artifacts can be found at: Historical Artifact Prices.


This Pre-Columbian Neolithic Celt is from the dry Pacific highlands of Western Panama. This celt has been knapped and then the cutting edge has been ground down, so it is Neolithic, rather than Paleolithic. I lived in Panama in the 1950s and 1960s and found similar celts around Gatun Lake and in Western Panama. I brought several celts that looked just like this to U.C. Berkeley when I was a college student in the 1960s. A professor in the Dept. of Paleontology estimated the date it was made at between 500 B.C. and 1,000 A.D., because my celts resembled similar celts in the U.C. Berkeley collection. This particular celt is large and heavy and not as refined as many of the celts found in Panama, so it is probably an older celts. The cutting edge is still very sharp and undamaged.

Length = 140 mm ; Width = 51 mm ; Thickness = 39 mm ; Weight = 442 gm


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