Compressor

Compressors and retouchers are tools that are typical of the Paleolithic era, and associated with stone-knapping and retouching. Made from different materials such as wood, antler, bone or stone, they vary enormously in shape. They may be smooth as well as bearing marks from having been hammered, pitted, struck or pressure-flaked. They were used to strike or pressure-flake stone edges, in order to obtain a more refined retouch. Some also have decorations on one or both sides. This compressor was found at the cave of Altamira by Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola, while working there between 1875 and 1880.