LITHIC IMPLEMENT

A group of 65 miscellaneous tools and utilised flint and chert flakes of many kinds from a 2 hectare field amongst a total of 850 worked flint fragments including waste and utilised pieces and tools. The flints have individual GPS records to a few metres accuracy which form a cluster extending beyond but centred in the field close to a brook at the edge of its flat alluvial plain and slightly above. The flints form a broad funnel to a crossing point and continue less frequently on the other side. There is no modern obvious preferential ford but fallen branches make natural bridges and a particular one may have begun a tradition and a path beaten to it may have been maintained long after it had rotted. The find rate was 30-50 flints per hour and compares with a background expectation of one tenth of this and a few scatters exceeding ten times this field. The first search was on an unequally visible surface with patchy weed cover and manuring. It was fortunate that this was ploughed in and heavy rain shortly allowed a more equal search. The maps have necessarily not been included in this entry but the data is available on request. The field overlies mylor slate and there are many fragments with the associated vein quartz. There is also much granite from the nearby intrusion and up to boulder size greenstone or lava which also occurrs nearby. Most of this material must be here naturally. There were only a couple of possibly ground pieces so intense dwelling or settlement is not suggested. There was no unusual coloured sediment or prehistoric pottery found so there are no erosion of archaeology issues at this time. Miscellaneous tools included here feature 1 leaf arrowhead; 644.11 which is likely from pebble flint, given its small size and some chaotic flake scars on one side from being near to the cracked cortex. This implies Earlier Neolithic as nodular flint later became available allowing flawless and larger blanks. Many expediently used flakes have not been illustrated and they may have only a little retouch and sometimes use gloss. An extreme example representing them is 644.21 which is an unmodified flake but has been used thousands of times to develop a strong gloss patch with 'comet shaped pits' where the surface has remodelled; perhaps in the presence of plant phytoliths i.e. from cutting grasses.Hafting of the butt is also implied. There are various notched, denticulated and serrated pieces and awls and piercers. Many of these tools appear to have been selected from waste for particular shapes and modified slightly. 645.11 is such a hafted end scraper. Sometimes a considerable time has elapsed ie 645.1 which is a blade denticulated through the patina. Bright colours can develop from exposing flint to heat. 646.9 has attracted attention because of this and the spalled out cavity has been employed as a finger hold with the adjacent edge carrying fine retouch. Thick flake 646.1 has been broken by heat leaving a point which has also been reused. Controlled heating of thick flake 645.8 has not damaged the structure and several colourful flakes have been removed before use as a scraper. A spectacular blade core of possibly Mesolithic age has had a great plunging flake(646.17) removed and this has been reused as a nosed scraper. Much cruder and perhaps Bronze age; 646.14 might be a fabricator. Other tools like 646.11 challenge classification. CORN-3A0FF2 accessess the cores from this scatter.CORN-3C1831 illustrates microburins, backed bladelets and blades.CORN-4A1CE8 has details of the flint knives and cutting flakes. CORN-4CC906 has Lesingey scrapers.