FLAKE

A flint notched and serrated flake, sub-oval in plan, plano-convex in profile and in section. Made on a secondary flake with a layer of cortex remaining on about half of the dorsal face. The point of percussion is visible at the proximal end but impurities in the flint have resulted in a lack of a bulb of percussion although the conchoidal ripples are clearly visible across the ventral face. The dorsal face bears the scar of the removal of at least one earlier flake. Several small flakes have been removed at the proximal end of the dorsal face, resulting in a notched edge with a short projection, approximately 5 mm long and 8 mm wide, which might have been used as a graver. Beyond this edge, the left margin of the dorsal face has been worked into a serrated edge which has subsequently been damaged through use. The tool was not prepared with any great degree of care and is typical of the 'tools-of-the-moment' common in later Bronze Age industries. The flint is a mottled light grey to light brown colour creamy-grey and the cortex is creamy-brown in colour suggesting that the flint was derived from a local beach pebble.

Bulter (2005) describes the characteristics of later Bronze Age flintwork in chapter 9 (pp.179-187), and illustrates a notched piece and a serrated flake on page 186, fig.76, nos.6 & 10.

Bond (2004) illustrates a similar utilised serrated and notched flake on page 157, fig.5.139, letter h, which is dated from the Late Bronze Age, but found on an Early Iron Age site.