Record Details
| NHER Number: | 6897 |
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| Type of record: | Find Spot |
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| Name: | Palaeolithic flint handaxes and flakes |
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Summary
A some time prior to January 1920 a Palaeolithic flint handaxe was found at the base of a cliff at Bacton. A number of potentially Palaeolithic flint flakes were also recovered from a gravel deposit exposed in the cliff section. A number of additional Palaeolithic object were recovered between 2019 and 2024, including a Lower Palaeolithic handaxe and a handaxe and a flake of likely Middle Palaeolithic date. The later material was probably derived from redeposited material dredged from the North Sea.
Images - none
Location
| Grid Reference: | TG 33 34 |
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| Map Sheet: | TG33SW |
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| Parish: | BACTON, NORTH NORFOLK, NORFOLK |
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Full description
Unstratified finds recovered on the section of Bacton beach from Paston/Bacton Parish boundary to Cable Gap Ramp.
Pre 1920. Stray Find.
Found on the beach at Bacton by W. B. Nichols at some time prior to 1920:
1 Palaeolithic broken, pointed flint handaxe. Informaton from (S1).
This object is illustrated in (S2) and described by Reid Moir as having been found "…on the talus at the base…" of a cliff section located "…about half-a-mile to the north-west of Bacton". Reid Moir described the implement as "…the upper anterior portion of a platessiform Palaeolithic implement of Chellean type". It was thought to have come from a layer of "irregularly-bedded gravel" that overlay the Cromer Forest Bed deposits. A small "trimmed flake" illustrated in (S2) was also found, along with a number of other examples, in situ within this gravel.
These finds are also listed in (S3) and noted on (S4) and in (S5)-(S8), although in all cases little additional information is given. According to (S5) the handaxe is held by the Ipswich Museum (which may also hold the flake found). See [1].
Site extended to area between Paston/Bacton Parish boundary and Cable Gap Ramp. Previous extent recorded as Context 1. See [1].
E. McDonald (HES), 24 November 2020.
October-December 2019. Stray Find.
Objects found on foreshore by [2].
Details to Follow.
E. McDonald, 10 December 2020.
November 2019. Stray Find. [3]
Found on foreshore by [4] and probably derived from redeposited material dredged from the North Sea:
1 Early Middle Palaeolithic flint handaxe (c. 250,000-200,000 BC).
Information from PAS import.
E. McDonald (HES), 24 November 2020.
November 2023. Stray Find. [5].
Found on foreshore by [6] and probably derived from redeposited material dredged from the North Sea:
1 Early Middle Palaeolithic flint flake.
Information from PAS import.
P. Watkins (HES), 13 May 2024.
June 2024. Stray Find. [7].
Found by [4]:
1 Lower Palaeolithic flint handaxe.
Information from PAS import.
P. Watkins (HES), 26 January 2025.
Monument Types
- FINDSPOT (Lower Palaeolithic - 1000000 BC to 150001 BC)
- FINDSPOT (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 1000000 BC to 40001 BC)
- FINDSPOT (Middle Palaeolithic - 150000 BC to 40001 BC)
Associated Finds
- FLAKE (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 1000000 BC to 40001 BC)
- HANDAXE (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 1000000 BC to 40001 BC)
- RETOUCHED FLAKE (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 1000000 BC to 40001 BC)
- HANDAXE (Lower Palaeolithic - 600000 BC to 250001 BC)
- FLAKE (Lower Palaeolithic - 250000 BC to 250000 BC)
- HANDAXE (Lower Palaeolithic - 250000 BC to 200000 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> | Article in Serial: Moir, J. Reid. 1920. A Series of Humanly-Fashioned Flints found in the Cliffs and on the Shore at Mundesley, Norfolk. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia. Vol III Pt II (for 1919-20) pp 219-243. pp 225-226; Fig 52a. |
| <S3> | Monograph: Roe, D. A. 1968. A Gazetteer of British Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Sites. CBA Research Report. No 8. p 228. |
| <S4> | Record Card: Wymer, J. J. Wymer Index Card - Palaeolithic. Bacton. |
| <S5> | Publication: Wymer, J. J. 1985. Palaeolithic Sites of East Anglia. p 32. |
| <S6> | Unpublished Contractor Report: 1997. The English Rivers Palaeolithic Project. Regions 8 (East Anglian Rivers) and 11 (Trent Drainage). Wessex Archaeology. p 49. |
| <S7> | Website: TERPS online database. Site 22541. |
| <S8> | Article in Serial: Robins, P., Wymer, J. J. and Parfitt, S. 2008. Handaxe Finds on the Norfolk Beaches. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol XLV Pt III pp 412-415. p 414. |
Related records - none
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