PALAEOLITHIC HANDAXE

-500000

Lower Palaeolithic, Acheulean, bifaced ovate flint hand axe. The hand axe is oval, with the point end slightly narrower than the butt and the thickest area about 2/3rds of the way down. It is symmetrical in plan and profile with a slightly reverse S shape to one edge. The axe is completely covered in shallow flake removal scars with evidence for more precise retouch around some edges and the removal of a tranchet sharpening flake from one side of the point. The lower part of one edge may have the remainder of blunting retouch. The surface is covered by re-formed cortex which has a mid-orange patina due to iron staining with areas of paler orange in more dense areas of cortex. Re-cortification has gone further in some areas where small pits have appeared, obscuring the fine details of the working. There is also evidence for some water wear with smoothed arrises and percussion waves in some areas. The axe was found on a beach but the low amount of water wear suggests it had recently eroded out of the coastal deposits and had not been subjected to a lot of sea damage. Such axes are often found in secondary deposits such as gravel beds as the various climatic periods since there original use and discard have seen a great deal of earth and landscape movement.The axe is 153.2mm long, 102.4mm wide and 36.5mm thick and weighs 577 grams.Such hand axes were in widespread use from c.600, 000 to 245,000 years ago in Britain although most finds date from 500-300,000 years ago corresponding to a period of warmer climate. They were produced by the hominid species Homo heidelbergensis. It has been suggested ovate hand axes were used more for cutting like a knife rather than as an axe.The findspot is interesting for it's proximity to Clacton on Sea, a site which has produced a well known assemblage of Lower Palaeolithic flint tools. The Clactonian industry however is noted for its lack of hand axes. Bearing in mind the wide period over which similar hand axes were in use this example may pre-date, be concurrent with, or post date the Clactonian assemblage.