Record Details
| NHER Number: | 10727 |
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| Type of record: | Find Spot |
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| Name: | Unprovenanced Palaeolithic flint handaxes (?Gillingham, marginal) |
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Summary
Two Palaeolithic handaxes were reportedly found in Gillingham during the early 1920s. The exact location and nature of their discovery is unknown. It has been suggested that these finds may actually have come from the Atlas Aggregates gravel pits in the adjacent parish of Aldeby. It is also possible that this is a confusion with Gillingham in Kent, where a number of Palaeolithic handaxes have also been discovered.
Images - none
Location
Full description
REPORTED DISCOVERIES
Around 1921-1922. Stray Find.
According to (S1), "2 Acheulian handaxes" were found at an unknown location in Gillingham during the early 1920s. No other details are given.
These finds are also noted on (S2) and in (S3), (S4), (S5) and (S6), although no additional information is given. It is suggested in (S6) that these finds may actually have come from in or near the Atlas Aggregates pits in the adjacent parish of Aldeby (see NHER 10723 and 10740). As discussed below it is now considered possibly that these objects are actually held by the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 26 February 2014.
FINDS IN MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
According to a note on (S2) gazetteer cards completed during the production of (S3) record two objects from Gillingham in the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (1 handaxe and 1 flake). It appears that the objects themselves were not seen and they are not listed in (S3).
These objects are almost certainly two flints described in the museum's accession records as 1 "coup de poing" and 1 flake (1925.23). These are recorded as having been found at Gillingham in Norfolk and were acquired from a Dr W. M. Tapp.
No other sources make any mention of these objects and it is possible that they are actually the two C. Hartley finds discussed above. This suggestion is supported by the fact that Hartley is also reported to have recovered another handaxe in neighbouring Aldeby and that the only potentially corresponding find in a museum collection is a handaxe in the same CUMAA collection, also acquired from a Dr W. M. Tapp in 1925.
P. Watkins (HES), 10 January 2016.
Monument Types
- FINDSPOT (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 40001 BC)
Associated Finds
- FLAKE? (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC? to 40001 BC?)
- HANDAXE (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 40001 BC)
- HANDAXE? (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC? to 40001 BC?)
Protected Status - none
Sources and further reading
| --- | Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card. |
| <S1> | Record Card: Clarke, R. R. and NCM Staff. 1933-1973. Norwich Castle Museum Record Card - Palaeolithic. |
| <S2> | Record Card: Wymer, J. J. Wymer Index Card - Palaeolithic. Gillingham. |
| <S3> | Monograph: Roe, D. A. 1968. A Gazetteer of British Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Sites. CBA Research Report. No 8. p 231. |
| <S4> | Publication: Wymer, J. J. 1985. Palaeolithic Sites of East Anglia. p 73. |
| <S5> | Unpublished Contractor Report: 1997. The English Rivers Palaeolithic Project. Regions 8 (East Anglian Rivers) and 11 (Trent Drainage). Wessex Archaeology. WNY-3, No.2. |
| <S6> | Website: TERPS online database. Site 22707. |
Related records - none
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