POINT

A flint flake, likely an unfinished projectile point. The flake is lenticular in plan, profile and section; it is 39.5 mm in length, 26.5 mm in width, 9 mm in thickness and 8.65 g in weight. The flake is a secondary flake of grey flint with pale grey inclusions, derived from a local beach pebble. There is a patch of grey cortex at the right margin of dorsal face and 13 mm along one edge from this patch is the point of percussion, at the proximal end, with the adjacent bulb of percussion visible on the ventral face. The poor quality of the flint has resulted in irregular fracturing to form an uneven, slightly convex, ventral surface. The dorsal face is also uneven and is scarred by the removal of several earlier flakes, the largest being immediately below the point of percussion and behind the bulb of the percussion on the ventral face. The resulting artefact has the general appearance of a projectile point as it is symmetrical. However, there is no retouch to any of the edges or surfaces and if the flake was originally intended to be made into a point the process was never completed as it is not aerodynamic in its present form.

Bond (2004) illustrates a triangular projectile point that is similarly thick on page 146, fig.5.132, no.37, which is dated from the Beaker period.

Keene (1999) illustrates a similar unfinished light grey flint flake with cortex at the opposite end from the point from Somerset on page 92, fig.2, no.9, which is dated from the Neolithic period.