Record Details

NHER Number:11018
Type of record:Find Spot
Name:Probable Mesolithic pick

Summary

A Mesolithic flint tranchet axehead was found in this field in 1936.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TM 150 829
Map Sheet:TM18SE
Parish:BURSTON WITH SHIMPLING, SOUTH NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

April 1936. Stray Find.
Found by D. Frere:
1 prehistoric flint 'pick'. Information from (S1). This object is recorded in (S2) as having been found "...in the field immediately east of Valley Farm and its orchard, bounded on the south by the farm lane". The implement itself is illustrated in (S2) and described as having a steep triangular section and being made of a grey-buff flint with a thick white patina. It is now held by the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 1984.88).

Although compared to Mesolithic "tranchet picks" a Neolithic or Early Bronze Age date was suggested for this object in (S2). It was how subsequently firmly identified as a Mesolithic tranchet axehead by J. J. Wymer and is listed as such in (S3).

It is also noted in (S2) that "pot-boilers" were common on this site and in the adjoining fields.
E. B. Green (NCM) 1984. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 7 January 2014.

Monument Types

  • FINDSPOT (Mesolithic - 10000 BC to 4001 BC)

Associated Finds

  • TRANCHET AXEHEAD (Mesolithic - 10000 BC to 4001 BC)

Protected Status - none

Sources and further reading

---Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
---Record Card: Clarke, R. R. and NCM Staff. 1933-1973. Norwich Castle Museum Record Card - Neolithic. Burston (Shimpling).
<S1>Record Card: Clarke, R. R. and NCM Staff. 1933-1973. Norwich Castle Museum Record Card - Mesolithic.
<S2>Article in Serial: Frere, S. 1939. Three Flint Implements from Shimpling. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol XXVII Pt II p 28-30. p 30.
<S3>Monograph: Wymer, J. J. and Bonsall, C. J. (eds). 1977. Gazetteer of Mesolithic Sites in England and Wales with a Gazetteer of Upper Palaeolithic Sites in England and Wales. Council for British Archaeology Research Report. No. 20. p 205.

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