AXE

Incomplete polished flint axe of Neolithic date (4500 BC - 2000 BC). The blade is broken and missing. Length 127mm, width 52mm and 27mm thick. Weight 182.69g.

The axe has a grey mottled patina and has been knapped then most of the surface has subsequently been polished. Viewing either face of the axe, with the butt at the top and the broken blade at the bottom, the shape is symmetrical. The straight sides flare gently outwards from the rounded butt towards the broken blade. The width of the axe at the butt end is 25mm and the maximum width at the blade end is 52mm. The butt has a rounded profile and is “bruised” around the edge of both faces, indicating perhaps, that the butt has been used as a hammer or punch.
The broken blade end has a coarse ragged edge. This damage is old and probably occurred in antiquity when the tool was in use as the surface colour of the breaks is the same colour as the patina of the old polished surfaces. The breaks are in the form of negative flake scars and the nature of the conchoidal fracturing suggests that the fractures took place on impact. The points of percussion are towards the blade end and the “ripples” are radiating outwards towards the butt.
Viewed from each side, the profile of the axe is symmetrical. The sides are slightly convex in profile and flare gently outwards before turning inwards abruptly towards the cutting edge. Each edge of the axe has been polished to form a flat longitudinal surface which extends from the butt to the blade end. At either side of the flat edges is a bevelled facet which also extends from the butt to the blade end.