Record Details

NHER Number:19005
Type of record:Find Spot
Name:Middle Palaeolithic flint handaxe and later prehistoric objects

Summary

Some years before 1983 a shaft hole adze and a possible flint dagger were recovered. In 1984 a fine Middle Palaeolithic black flint handaxe of flat-butted cordate (bout coupe) form was also found in this area. It has been suggested that the condition of this piece may indicate that it was a collection throw out.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TM 2103 8780
Map Sheet:TM28NW
Parish:PULHAM MARKET, SOUTH NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

1980. Stray Find.
Found by [1] East of Bush Green, whilst walking over ploughed field:
1 prehistoric shaft hole adze (N260).
W. Milligan (NLA), 14 February 1983. Information from (S1).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 7 January 2014.

Late 1970s. Stray Find.
Found "about 15 years before 1983" in same area as above find:
1 prehistoric ?flint dagger, around 9" [23cm] long.
2 or 3 Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age barbed and tanged arrowheads.
These objects were said to in Diss School and were not seen by NCM. Not in the school in 1984.
W. Milligan (NLA), 14 February 1983. Information from (S1).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 7 January 2014.

Grid reference corrected by finder, April 1984.

April 1984. Stray Find.
Found by [1] in clod of earth at north end of ponds (at same grid reference as above finds):
1 Middle Palaeolithic flint handaxe. Fine black flint handaxe of flat-butted cordate form, unstained and unpatinated. This is a bout coupé, Mousterian form of handaxe that is typically associated with Late Middle Palaeolithic Neanderthal activity. Given state, colour and other objects found, doubt must attach to this find. Is this a collection thrown out?
Identified by E. Green (NCM) and J. J. Wymer (NAU). Information from (S1).
This discovery was first reported in (S2). The handaxe is also noted on (S3) and in (S4) and (S5), although little additional information is given. It is also listed as a possible Middle Palaeolithic handaxe in (S6) and (S7), although it was not accepted as a true bout coupé by (S6) due to the question mark over its provenance. It is noted that the position of this site, on the middle of the high central Norfolk Till plain would be an unlikely provenance for such an object.
W. Milligan (NLA), April 1984. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 7 January 2014.

Monument Types

  • FINDSPOT (Prehistoric - 1000000 BC to 42 AD)
  • FINDSPOT (Middle Palaeolithic - 150000 BC to 40001 BC)
  • FINDSPOT (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • FINDSPOT (Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 3000 BC to 1501 BC)

Associated Finds

  • DAGGER? (Lower Palaeolithic to Late Iron Age - 500000 BC to 42 AD)
  • HANDAXE (Middle Palaeolithic - 150000 BC to 40001 BC)
  • ADZE (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • BARBED AND TANGED ARROWHEAD (Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 3000 BC to 1501 BC)

Protected Status

  • SHINE

Sources and further reading

<S1>Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
<S2>Article in Serial: 1985. Archaeological Discoveries for 1984. CBA Group VI Bulletin. No 30 pp 23-36. p 29.
<S3>Record Card: Wymer, J. J. Wymer Index Card - Palaeolithic. Pulham Market.
<S4>Unpublished Contractor Report: 1997. The English Rivers Palaeolithic Project. Regions 8 (East Anglian Rivers) and 11 (Trent Drainage). Wessex Archaeology. WNY-2, No.12.
<S5>Website: TERPS online database. Site 22705.
<S6>Monograph: Tyldesley, J. A. 1987. The bout coupé Handaxe: a typological problem. British Archaeological Report. No 170. p 38.
<S7>Publication: Pettitt, P. and White, M. 2012. The British Palaeolithic: Human Societies at the Edge of the Pleistocene World. p 328.

Related records - none

Find out more...

Norfolk County Council logo Heritage Lottery Fund logo

Powered by HBSMR-web and the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd, and mojoPortal CMS
© 2007 - 2024 Norfolk Historic Environment Service