Record ID: NMS-B75854
Object type: QUERN
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Saddle quern made from a coarse-grained quartz dolerite or diabase erratic, mid-grey with numerous lighter coloured coarse inclusions, the centre appears to have been hollowed by use to depth of c. 50 mm, the depression is sub-circular: c. 130 x 150 mm. The outside of the stone is very roughly and minimally shaped to a sub-bowl shape, one edge is especially straight and is ground almost smooth, presumably to enable the contents to be tipped out once processed. Cf. LIN-ED2837 for a broadly similar quern. Saddle querns were used to grind many plants and seeds both for culi…
Created on: Tuesday 13th February 2024
Last updated: Monday 26th February 2024
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-D88224
Object type: WHETSTONE
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Fragment of a large sub-rectangular sectioned whetstone, of fine-grained non micaceous mid grey stone with lighter, linier streaks throughout, both ends are broken, the surviving section appears to be the centre with all sides constricted from use wear, one only subtlety worn, one face has a prominent, rounded groove that runs down the length on the centre, this must have been wear from one specialised form of grinding or sharpening.
Created on: Wednesday 4th October 2023
Last updated: Monday 13th November 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-D82BE3
Object type: WHETSTONE
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
One half of a whetstone of fine-grained non micaceous mid-grey stone, perforated at one end by a drilled hole with a slightly “hourglass” cross section, this originally made the recorder think that this may have been a Beaker period stone wrist bracer with a single hole, further research has shown many of the whetstones from the Early Medieval/Medieval period had similar profiled perforations and is now much more likely to be of this later date and function. One lateral edge and the end with the perforation is ground to a thin, pointed edge, the opposing side is flat, almos…
Created on: Wednesday 4th October 2023
Last updated: Monday 13th November 2023
No spatial data available.

Record ID: NMS-D432F7
Object type: TALLY
Broad period: UNKNOWN
County: Suffolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
“Tally stone”, marked on a water worn pebble of mid-grey slightly banded, fine grained siltstone, in good sunlight, very, very fine specks of mica are visible within the stone. The twenty tallies are cut in to the lateral edge on the straighter of the two sides, they are a V cut with either a file (or similar) or cut with a sharp blade, the edges of which have rounded off slightly over the years and they appear to be a non-recent addition to the surface of the stone. The uppermost incision is 2.31 mm apart (measured from the deepest part of the cut to the next dee…
Created on: Tuesday 11th July 2023
Last updated: Monday 17th July 2023
Spatial data recorded.

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Record ID: NMS-FC3DB5
Object type: WHETSTONE
Broad period: UNKNOWN
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
An elongated whetstone, of sub-square section with both ends either broken or left unworked from the natural piece of slightly banded schist stone this was ground from, all four sides appear to have been used to sharpen knives, sickles etc. and are quite smooth to the touch. There are rusty iron scrapes to the surfaces from contact with agricultural machinery and recent surface losses in places, now showing a lighter colour to the original surfaces.    The age of this is whetstone is difficult to establish, schist has been used at least since the Early Saxon period, most not…
Created on: Monday 31st October 2022
Last updated: Wednesday 21st June 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-F2F3DB
Object type: MACE
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Impressively banded igneous stone “slipper” mace head, the stone is fine-grained with grey/green layers between whiteish layers, the perforations were never completed; pecked and/or bored from both faces but now left as opposing “cups” to each face c. 23 mm dia. and each 11 mm deep, there was only c. 7 mm of unperforated stone  before the two would meet up. The surface has a small amount of fine, granular loss but essentially it is in good condition. Possibly locally made from a glacial erratic water worn pebble chosen for the aesthetics of the stone…
Created on: Monday 12th September 2022
Last updated: Monday 7th August 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-F2223C
Object type: AXE
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Cornish greenstone axe with a degraded and weathered surface, this is usual for this type of stone, otherwise it is complete: -of petrological Group 1 or 1 a, (Group 1, Uralitized gabbro, epidiorite, or greenstone. Source in Mount’s Bay area, near Penzance, Cornwall. Widely distributed and abundant. Keiller, Piggott, and Wallis, PPS, 7 (1941), 51. Group 1 a, Close to Group 1. Stone and Wallis, PPS, 17 (1951), 105). Specific for this axe: Stone Imp. Pet. N308. Late Neolithic, 3,000 to 2,350 BC. See records: NMS-F2F3DB NMS-F27DB7 NMS-F2572B NMS-C0A67B fo…
Created on: Monday 12th September 2022
Last updated: Wednesday 14th September 2022
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-BC2855
Object type: AXE
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Large axe, knapped, then ground and polished to shape, of an unusual type of pale, fine grained stone with lighter streaks within. It is in relatively good condition with minor losses to the edges and scrapes associated with contact with agricultural machinery, unsurprising as the field has been in cultivation (recently) for around 60-70 years, yet it has only now been retrieved. The butt appears to have a combination of old and recent damage, the cutting edge is slightly "S" shaped rather than straight, probably from locally grinding out chips to this edge to re-sharpen it. One large…
Created on: Monday 24th May 2021
Last updated: Tuesday 25th May 2021
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-60EB4C
Object type: HANDAXE
Broad period: PALAEOLITHIC
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Quartzite handaxe in slightly rolled condition, hard hammer struck from a semi-flat water worn cobble, in an alternate flake pattern, one flake struck from one face and then turned over and the previous flake scar used as a platform for the next, forming a zig-zag cutting edge. All flakes appear to have been done in a single pass apart from the area of semi-invasive flaking (likely to be the main cutting edge) where a secondary large flake scar has hinged, trying to follow the high point between the two previous flakes. The butt has largely been left unworked (butt type a), part …
Created on: Monday 8th March 2021
Last updated: Wednesday 23rd March 2022
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-FFA9AA
Object type: AXE
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Ground stone axe or adze, of Augite Granophyre from the Welsh North coast, petrological Group VII (Clough and Cummins ,CBA Research Report No 23, 1979) from the axe factories in the Penmaenmawr area, Caernarvonshire. In water worn and abraded condition with the most noticeable loss to the cutting edge, now partially encrusted with barnacles showing that the axe has been in a stable marine/intertidal environment for some time, probably the rest of the axe was partially buried, with part of the axe surface exposed to the water long enough for them to colonis…
Created on: Monday 2nd November 2020
Last updated: Thursday 29th February 2024
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-940053
Object type: AXE
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Suffolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Stone axe, of pointed form with an oval cross-section, of Clough and Cummins (1988), petrological group XVIII, made from a cobble of green/grey quartz dolerite little bigger than the finished axe, original surfaces with a rough texture and with light brown surfaces are extant to the sides, the modified surface appear to be ground only, there is no evidence of pecking to achieve the final shape, this type of stone responds quickly to grinding. The cutting edge is heavily damaged, it has possibly been re-used as a hammer, though this is difficult to say for sure, the very tip of th…
Created on: Monday 11th May 2020
Last updated: Monday 18th May 2020
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-49E84B
Object type: AXE HAMMER
Broad period: BRONZE AGE
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Very large stone axe-hammer, of petrological group XVIII, this stone is Quartz Dolerite, this stone is found generally within the Whinn Sill of northern England with outcrops from south of Berwick upon Tweed down to Middleton and round to Durham. The implements made of this stone seem to have been traded south and inland (see CBA research report NO. 67, Stone Axe Studies Vol.2, Clough and Cummins (1988), page 280, map 16 for distribution of implements of this group). It is grey/green fine-grained stone now patinated a light brown to the original surfaces, the recent damage appea…
Created on: Tuesday 7th January 2020
Last updated: Wednesday 14th October 2020
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Near Hunstanton', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: NMS-F6A447
Object type: AXE
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Suffolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Complete Cornish greenstone axe, of petrology group I (Clough and Cummins, 1979, 1988), uralitised gabbro/epidiorite sourced from Mount's Bay area, near Penzance, Cornwall, surface is pitted from loss of surface material but otherwise is in undamaged condition, it is of rather thick oval section with an asymmetrical cutting edge, the top edge of the axe extends further forward than the lower edge, both lateral edges are very straight from the top and the bottom of the cutting edge, only slightly constricting towards the butt, which is abruptly blunted, presumably to help with knocking…
Created on: Wednesday 16th January 2019
Last updated: Monday 16th December 2019
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-5FF1FC
Object type: PERFORATED OBJECT
Broad period: BRONZE AGE
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Approximately half of a "cushion" type stone mace head, broken transversely in antiquity though the hourglass perforation, this was worked from both faces with a pecking stone and a pointed borer until they met in the middle, creating the distinctive profile of the shaft hole, from the ventral face this is circa. 39 mm diameter, constricting to 24.5 mm at the middle and then expanding to 32 mm on the dorsal face. The stone appears to be Dolerite, of fine grained grey/green composition, with the original surfaces (including the breaks) now patinated with iron oxides. This type of st…
Created on: Wednesday 11th July 2018
Last updated: Friday 16th April 2021
Spatial data recorded.

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Record ID: NMS-BC4380
Object type: WHETSTONE
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Approx. half of a sub-square sectioned whetstone, of smooth, worn fine-grained schist, thin sedimentary banding is just visable on two opposing sides. The end changes section to almost triangular, with deeply incised "V" at a slight angle on one face. The very end has fine, parrallel scratches from use. C. 800 to 1100 AD.
Created on: Thursday 21st June 2018
Last updated: Thursday 21st June 2018
Spatial data recorded.

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Record ID: NMS-0F82DA
Object type: WHETSTONE
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Whetstone of sub ovoid to sub trapezoidal section with rounded edges, all faces are polished smooth and blackened from use, except for recent damage which reveals the light grey original colour of the fine grained micaceous schist. As both ends are broken and damaged in antiquity, it is uncertain if this implement was perforated for suspension. Romano-British to Medieval.
Created on: Monday 26th June 2017
Last updated: Sunday 12th July 2020
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-E1C855
Object type: PERFORATED OBJECT
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Mesolithic to Early Bronze Age perforated water worn sub-trapezoidal pebble of grey Quartzite with a few slight scrapes of iron oxides, the slightly off-centre hole is formed by pecking a depression on both faces (circa. 30 mm diameter), and then drilled to join up, resulting in an 11 mm hour glass perforation. The two shorter lateral edges are battered and worn, otherwise the pebble is unmodified. "Mace heads" or pebble hammers are an enigmatic object type with many perceived uses, cf. NMS-6EA2F4 for a short discussion, also this was from the same finder, although from a different…
Created on: Monday 24th April 2017
Last updated: Tuesday 2nd May 2017
Spatial data recorded.