Record ID: CORN-03C675
Object type: BLADE
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Published
A flint crested blade, parallel-sided in plan, with a point at each end, plano-convex in profile and triangular in section, 69 mm long, 18.5 mm wide and 11 mm thick and 13 g in weight. A minute remnant of the striking platform remains at the proximal end and a faint bulb of percussion on the concave ventral face. The flint is pale grey with mottling of white and darker grey and a patch of sand-coloured patination at the distal end. No cortex remains, but the flint was likely derived from a local beach pebble. There are several flake scars from earlier removals at the distal end of the…
Created on: Wednesday 6th September 2017
Last updated: Tuesday 3rd April 2018
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-FF6822
Object type: AXEHEAD
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Published
A Group I type greenstone axe head, ovate in plan, lozenge-shaped in profile, and round at the butt end and oval at the blade end in cross section. The cutting edge is asymmetrically curved and the butt end is pointed. All surfaces would have originally been pecked and ground but the majority of the axe is now deeply pitted due to weathering with polishing only remaining on the butt and blade end, on both faces, but more remains on the dorsal face of the blade. The deeply pecked face is marked by lighter areas of abrasion which have been caused by later damage, and there are some pa…
Created on: Tuesday 13th June 2017
Last updated: Friday 13th April 2018
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-6871F8
Object type: AXEHEAD
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Published
A small Group I type greenstone axe head, ovate in plan, lozenge-shaped in profile and oval in cross section. The cutting edge is asymmetrically curved and the butt is faceted. All surfaces have been ground; the edges are slightly pitted due to weathering but traces of polishing remain on both faces, especially at the blade end. There is a circular area of deep pecking on one face, approximately 22 mm in diameter and on the opposite face are slight traces of pecking, suggesting that the tool was perhaps re-used for hammering or as a small mortar. The deeply pecked face is marked by se…
Created on: Tuesday 18th April 2017
Last updated: Friday 13th April 2018
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-C80DEA
Object type: AXEHEAD
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Published
Polished stone axe head, sub-rectangular in plan and lozenge-shaped in profile and section. The edge of the blade has several flakes that hace been taken off of it, probably through damage rather than use, as polished axes like this example may have been for more ceremonial use. There are more recent scratches and gashes in the polished surface which are most likely caused by plough damage or since the axe has been removed from its context. The axe head would have originally been hafted and held in an organic haft or handle, which has since perished. The axe is grey-green in colour an…
Created on: Monday 1st June 2015
Last updated: Wednesday 23rd September 2015
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-EB48C4
Object type: PERFORATED OBJECT
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Published
Incomplete greenstone (epidiorite) shafthole adze, sub-oval in plan, tapering slightly towards the surviving end, and lozenge-shaped in profile and section. About half of the adze remains, including the blade end, and half of the shaft hole. Both ends would have been worked to form an edge which could have been used for chopping as well as hammering. The implement has been worked from a beach cobble and would have been collected from the coast. It would have then been pecked and ground into shape and the central hole bored by using sand and a drill. The shaft hole is semi-circular …
Created on: Saturday 27th December 2014
Last updated: Monday 23rd February 2015
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-EC62C3
Object type: ARROWHEAD
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Published
Flint oblique arrowhead, triangular in plan with a hollow base, and lozenge-shaped in profile and section. The base with its slight barbs on either side would have been hafted on to the arrow shaft. There is invasive retouch on both the dorsal and ventral faces, and on all margins and at the distal and proximal ends. The colour of the flint is a slightly translucent mottled grey-brown colour which suggests that it was probably derived from a local beach pebble. There is a cortical patch at the distal end, which is lighter grey in colour. The length to breadth ratio is about 3:2 which …
Created on: Monday 28th April 2014
Last updated: Wednesday 30th April 2014
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-C2A644
Object type: VESSEL
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Published
Pottery sherd with fine incised pairs of parallel oblique lines within vertical linear borders, also consisting of two parallel lines. The pairs of oblique lines, which are at about a 45 degree angle, are divided by a central pair of vertical lines, so that they appear as a chevron or herringbone pattern when looked at as a whole. The sherd is made of gabbroic clay that weathers over the gabbro outcrop on the Lizard in Cornwall. The fabric has inclusions of pale felspars, dark augite and mica, and is orangey-brown on the exterior and dark brown on the interior of the sherd, with some …
Created on: Monday 15th April 2013
Last updated: Sunday 11th July 2021
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-C1AA06
Object type: HAMMERSTONE
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Published
Stone ball or hammerstone, sub-circular in plan, ovate in profile and rhomboidal in section. The upper and lower or base surfaces have both been ground and the upper face has also been pecked, suggesting use as a hammerstone and possibly a pestle. Such pieces do turn up on domestic sites but not in any quantity compared to mullers and rubbers. On these objects the waterworn cobble surfaces are all fresh and unweathered, appropriate for selection from a beach during the Neolithic. The beach selection would ensure hard enduring pieces. It is quite possible that the wear on these objects…
Created on: Monday 15th April 2013
Last updated: Monday 27th January 2014
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-B0D1C3
Object type: ARROWHEAD
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Published
Flint oblique arrowhead, triangular in plan with a hollow base, and lozenge-shaped in profile and section. The base with its slight barbs on either side would have been hafted on to the arrow shaft. There is invasive retouch on both the dorsal and ventral faces, and on all margins and at the distal and proximal ends. The colour of the flint is a slightly translucent mottled orange-brown colour which suggests that it was probably derived from a local beach pebble. The length to breadth ratio is about 3:2 which is common for this type of oblique arrowhead. Bond (2004) illustrates a s…
Created on: Monday 7th January 2013
Last updated: Thursday 2nd July 2015
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-AFB9F2
Object type: TRANSVERSE ARROWHEAD
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Published
Chert chisel or transverse arrowhead, T-shaped in plan and triangular in profile and section. There is invasive retouch on both margins of the dorsal face, on either side of the tang, and retouch on the left margin of the ventral face around the barb. The colour of the chert is a dark matt grey which suggests that it might be derived from Portland chert from Dorset. The orange discolouration on the distal end is the result of organic staining from peat. The length to breadth ratio is about 1:1 which is common for this type of arrowhead as it was made from a square blank. Bond (2004)…
Created on: Monday 7th January 2013
Last updated: Thursday 21st March 2013
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-A4BBA4
Object type: ADZE
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Published
Incomplete gabbroic greenstone cushion macehead or shafthole adze, ovate in plan, tapering slightly towards the butt end, and lozenge-shaped in profile and section. Both ends would have been worked to form an edge which could have been used for chopping as well as hammering. The macehead probably originally from a beach cobble with little reshaping with a coarse surface texture mainly from weathering (Roger Taylor pers comm). It would have then been pecked and ground into shape and the central hole bored by using sand and a drill. The shaft hole is circular in plan and an 'hour-glass'…
Created on: Wednesday 7th November 2012
Last updated: Tuesday 12th March 2013
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-E0A032
Object type: SCRAPER (TOOL)
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Published
Flint semi-circular scraper, oval in plan and plano-convex in profile, with most of the original cortex remaining on the dorsal face. The cortex has only been removed around half the edge of the dorsal face, following the angle of the flake, in order to retouch the margin to create the scraper edge. The ventral face has some natural fracturing around the edge of the cortex, especially at the proximal end, but the majority of the surface is smooth. The flint is a mottled light brown to grey which suggests that it has been derived from the local beach flint and appears to be the end of …
Created on: Thursday 12th July 2012
Last updated: Tuesday 26th March 2013
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-42E086
Object type: AXEHEAD
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Published
Flint axehead of mottled grey-brown flint which suggests that it may have been derived from the local pebble beach flint. The axehead is straight-sided and tapers towards the butt end which has a pointed bifid terminal on either side of the notched proximal end, where the axehead would have been hafted. The flake that he been taken off on both the dorsal and the ventral faces at the distal end to create the blade end, which has then also been polished, but the rest of the axe has been left with its flake scars. Both margins have been retouched, but the left margin of the dorsal face a…
Created on: Wednesday 4th July 2012
Last updated: Tuesday 26th March 2013
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-AE6948
Object type: ARROWHEAD
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Published
Flint oblique arrowhead, triangular in plan, and lozenge-shaped in profile and section, with one of the apexes or points of the triangle extended to a considerable length to create a long narrowed barb. The arrowhead would have been hafted centrally to line up with the point and the haft tied to the barb as there appears to be wear on the indented edge of the left margin of the dorsal face, diagonally opposite the centre of the base margin, across the barb. The arrowhead has been bifacially retouched on two out of the three sides: the base margin and the right margin of the dorsal fac…
Created on: Wednesday 11th May 2011
Last updated: Thursday 18th April 2013
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-BA9E64
Object type: AXE
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: East Riding of Yorkshire
Workflow stage: Published
Flint axe, triangular in plan and lenticular in profile and section, tapering to a point at the butt end and squared off at the blade end. The axe is bifacially and bimarginally reworked throughout. There is no polishing on the blade and it is difficult to identify any surface gloss as the whole axe has a surface sheen. The cutting edge is symmetrical in profile suggesting that the implement would have been used as an axe rather than an adze. The flint is a light grey colour which is typical of the local flint derived from the Lower Chalk of the Yorkshire Wolds, but erratic flint is a…
Created on: Saturday 11th September 2010
Last updated: Saturday 16th March 2013
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-729D30
Object type: DISCOIDAL KNIFE
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Suffolk
Workflow stage: Published
Flint discoidal knife, semi-circular in plan and lozenge-shaped in section, with a polished curved back to the blade, which is also slightly convex. The knife has been bifacially reworked and the blade edge retouched and then polished along with the back which may have been for hafting or hand-held. It was no doubt polished for decorative reasons as well as practical ones. The flint is an orangey-brown colour and was probably derived from a locally mined flint nodule. The length to breadth ratio is about 3:2. Bond (2004) illustrates a similar example of a discoidal knife with a p…
Created on: Thursday 4th December 2008
Last updated: Friday 18th May 2018
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-726021
Object type: DAGGER
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Suffolk
Workflow stage: Published
Flint dagger, lozenge-shaped in plan and section, tapering towards a point at the distal end and a squared-off butt at the proximal end. The dagger is bifacially reworked and retouched using pressure flaking on all margins. The flint is a translucent grey-brown colour and was likely derived from a locally mined flint nodule. The length to breadth ratio is about 3:1. Bond (2004) illustrates a similar, but less symmetrical, example from Norfolk on page 60, Fig.5.35, and another on page 145, Fig.5.131, No.28, which dates from the Beaker period. Smith (1919) illustrates similar ex…
Created on: Thursday 4th December 2008
Last updated: Thursday 11th August 2016
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-71BC22
Object type: AXE
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Lincolnshire
Workflow stage: Published
Jadeite axehead, tear-drop shaped in plan and lozenge-shaped in profile and section, with patches of glassy polish and iron staining. The axehead was analysed non-destructively, using scattered reflectance spectroradiometry, in October 2007 as part of an international French project, Projet JADE, covering all axeheads of Alpine rock in Europe. The project is directed by Dr Pierre Petrequin, until recently of CNRS and the University of Besancon. The analysis was undertaken by Dr Michel Errera (then of the Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, Belgium) at the CNRS Lab…
Created on: Thursday 4th December 2008
Last updated: Thursday 24th February 2011
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-3B3365
Object type: AWL
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Published
Flint awl, worked to a point at the proximal end, and retouched at the distal end to produce a scraper. The implement is tear shaped in plan and plano-convex in profile and section, with all margins reworked on the dorsal face, a flattened medial crest and the remains of the bulb of percussion on the ventral face of the proximal end. The flint is a mottled dark brown to light grey in colour and was probably derived from a local beach pebble. There is still a layer of cortex between the medial ridge and the left margin of the dorsal face. The length to breadth ratio is about 5:2. …
Created on: Monday 13th October 2008
Last updated: Thursday 24th February 2011
Spatial data recorded.