Norfolk Heritage Explorer

Location

Full description

August 1960. Stray Find.
Found by son of [1] in area of "submerged forest at Thornham" (Context 3):
1 Mesolithic flint tranchet axehead. Donated to King’s Lynn Museum (KILLM : 1961.21).
Information from (S1). This discovery was reported in (S7).
Although initially recorded as Neolithic, this object was subsequently identified as Mesolithic by R. Jacobi. See description in (S2) and copy of drawing by Jacobi (S3). From correspondence between [1] and Jacobi (British Museum Wymer Archive) it is clear that this object was found in clay beneath the upper peat deposits, around the Low Water Mark. It should be noted that a plan supplied by the finder suggests that the axehead may have actually been found to the north-east of the location recorded by the NCM, around TF 7505 4530.
See copies of plan and relevant correspondence in file.
Previously recorded as NHER 1303.
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 22 December 2013.

1969. Stray Find.
Found on shingle by [2] at TF 7425 4515 (Context 2):
1 Neolithic part-polished flint axehead (water-worn) and scrapers.
Information from (S1)
Amended by P. Watkins (HES).

July 1979-January 1989.
Various worked flints recovered during multiple visits by [3] and [4] (the majority by the former):
26 Late Upper Palaeolithic flint blades, 7 flakes, 2 crested flakes, 3 cores, 1 burin, 1 end scraper and 1 backed blade (?Cresswell/’penknife’ point). See drawings (S4) and (S5). Two of the cores are listed in a catalogue of long blade cores compiled by N. Barton (see copy in file - from British Museum Wymer Archive).

1 Early Neolithic lead arrowhead.
1 Neolithic part-polished flint axehead.
4 ?Neolithic flint blades, 1 scraper and 1 strike-a-light.

34 flints were donated to King’s Lynn Museum (KILLM : 1986.15.3).
Identified by J. J. Wymer (NAU) and P. Robins (NCM), see initial lists and analysis sheets in file. A digital version of these catalogues has been created and used to generate a GIS plot of the recorded findspots. The mapped extent of this record was subsequently corrected to better reflect the recorded distribution of this assemblage.

The Late Upper Palaeolithic flints are all stained black and are almost certainly the tail end of a Late Upper Palaeolithic long blade industry that was recovered from the beach at Titchwell, immediately to the east (NHER 15352). The source of this material was traced to deposits that lay below the Low Water Mark, where flints were found in situ on the surface of a glacial till, beneath a sequence of peats and silty clays (NHER 22810). See NHER 15352 and (S6) for further details.
E. Rose (NAU), 21 November 1988. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 7 November 2014.

Monument Types

• FINDSPOT (Upper Palaeolithic - 40000 BC to 10001 BC)
• FINDSPOT (Mesolithic - 10000 BC to 4001 BC)
• FINDSPOT (Early Neolithic - 4000 BC to 3001 BC)
• FINDSPOT (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)

Associated Finds

• BLADE (Upper Palaeolithic - 40000 BC to 10001 BC)
• BLADE (Upper Palaeolithic - 40000 BC to 10001 BC)
• BLADE CORE (Upper Palaeolithic - 40000 BC to 10001 BC)
• BURIN (Upper Palaeolithic - 40000 BC to 10001 BC)
• CORE (Upper Palaeolithic - 40000 BC to 10001 BC)
• CORE (Upper Palaeolithic - 40000 BC to 10001 BC)
• CRESTED BLADE (Upper Palaeolithic - 40000 BC to 10001 BC)
• END SCRAPER (Upper Palaeolithic - 40000 BC to 10001 BC)
• FLAKE (Upper Palaeolithic - 40000 BC to 10001 BC)
• FLAKE (Upper Palaeolithic - 40000 BC to 10001 BC)
• POINT (Upper Palaeolithic - 40000 BC to 10001 BC)
• TRANCHET AXEHEAD (Mesolithic - 10000 BC to 4001 BC)
• BLADE (Neolithic - 4000 BC? to 2351 BC?)
• BLADE (Neolithic - 4000 BC? to 2351 BC?)
• LEAF ARROWHEAD (Early Neolithic - 4000 BC to 3001 BC)
• POLISHED AXEHEAD (Early Neolithic - 4000 BC to 3001 BC)
• POLISHED AXEHEAD (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
• SCRAPER (TOOL) (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
• SCRAPER (TOOL) (Neolithic - 4000 BC? to 2351 BC?)
• STRIKE A LIGHT (Neolithic - 4000 BC? to 2351 BC?)

Protected Status - none

Sources and further reading

Related records

Find out more...

• Parish Summary: Thornham (Parish Summary)
• Upper Palaeolithic Norfolk (Period Overview)