Hi all, i am a real enthusiastic armchair archeologist and have learned a lot from the show, which i love. Long story short i found what i think to be a flint tool (very exciting) but am having trouble with finding anything to reference it to on the web, is there anybody here who could assist me in discovering a little bit about it?
Once again whilst out metal detecting not only are you listening, but your eyes are on the groud. In an old settled area one can pick up flint tools of various ages, some pre last ice age, as their surfaces were pitted by the severe cold. by your photo it is evident that it is a scraper for a right handed person, used to clean bark off shafts when making arrows. It is always a pleasent feeling when your hand fits a flint tool made many thousands of years ago,
Thats great thank you for the info, this was found at the hill top fort at Caesars camp in Bracknell just lying on the floor and just to add to it i have found another two examples today, it is literaly just sitting there.
It does have a ploughstruck look about it,actually, but having said that, I'd certainly bag it up if I saw it while fieldwalking and leave the pondering to the real flint experts.
Just to reiterate, this was found on a hill top fort so plough strike is unlikely as it is smack bang in the middle of a coniferous wood. If you look closely you can also see a percussion point on the bottom, so if this is a 'flake' it is a HUGE one and i would love to see what it 'flaked' from.
Flakes can be very big. You can start off with a piece of flint the size of a rugby ball, and and up with a small hand axe.
Not all tools will necessarily look like tools. If someone wanted a tool for a specific job, they wouldn't have worried too much about what it looked like, as long as it did the required job. So no all flint artefacts will look like museum exhibits. If a man was hungry and needed to skin an animal, any sharp piece of flint would do. Maybe some of the more exquisite flint artefacts we see on display, may have been made for trading purposes ?
........................................................................ Support the PAS Go with the FLO
Interesting indeed, found an axe head and what looks like the bottom of a bottle or clay lid yesterday, really would be nice if it was excavated properley.
Originally posted by Lurch24/7: Hi all, i am a real enthusiastic armchair archeologist and have learned a lot from the show, which i love. Long story short i found what i think to be a flint tool (very exciting) but am having trouble with finding anything to reference it to on the web, is there anybody here who could assist me in discovering a little bit about it?
Hi With the caveat that photos are not the best ID media.
I know this is not what you want to hear, but I'm afraid I really don't think this is a prehistoric artefact. It doesn't really have any indications of controlled knapping. The conchoidal fractures are what one sees on any flint which has been abraded through accidental or natural causes. Many of the fractures look very "fresh" and are indicative of nothing more than how flint responds to pressure or abrasion. If you look through certain grades of garden gavel or stone chippings you will often find exactly this type of stone which has been formed by the abrasion of surrounding flint stones.
Please don't think I take any pleasure in telling you, you haven't found a prehistoric flint tool (I really wish that were not the case). Sorry!
Originally posted by Lurch24/7: Interesting indeed, found an axe head and what looks like the bottom of a bottle or clay lid yesterday, really would be nice if it was excavated properley.
Hi again
I know this may seem initially petty, but please, please, be aware that Caesar's camp is a legally protected Scheduled Monument and removing artefacts from it is illegal!
If you have found an axe head and removed it from the site, technically you are guilty of an offence under the AMAA 1979. I strongly suggest you take any finds to your local museum and get them identified and placed on the County HER. Also those finds belong to the owner of the site which in this case is (I believe) the local authority and the Crown Estates and therefore are not yours.
I don't think you will get into any trouble (as long as you didn't dig anything out of the ground) but you should really hand any artefacts over to the relevant authorities when found on SMs.
As a general point people, if you don't have permission from a landowner, removing artefacts is theft. Normally most people are reasonable and many farmers are not worried if you take home a flint tool but Scheduled Monuments are a different matter as they are recognised as being of national importance. In the same way that you wouldn't take cutlery from a stately home, don't take evidence from SMs.
Thanks for your info, really helpful to me as i am trying to learn more about this kind of thing.
Just to clear up the legality, these artifacts were found outside the fort on the long road/path that leads into the monument and were offered to the authorities but as yet i have had no interest in them at all, whatsoever. I can't seem to find anyone who could give a monkeys and i have tried. There is a little discovery centre on the site which briefly touches on the history of the fort and they weren't even interested, from what i have learned recently people have been using metal detectors on the site for a good long while and no one seems to care, shame such a cool site doesn't inspire a bit more interest from the local authorities.
Originally posted by Lurch24/7: Thanks for your info, really helpful to me as i am trying to learn more about this kind of thing.
Just to clear up the legality, these artifacts were found outside the fort on the long road/path that leads into the monument and were offered to the authorities but as yet i have had no interest in them at all, whatsoever. I can't seem to find anyone who could give a monkeys and i have tried. There is a little discovery centre on the site which briefly touches on the history of the fort and they weren't even interested, from what i have learned recently people have been using metal detectors on the site for a good long while and no one seems to care, shame such a cool site doesn't inspire a bit more interest from the local authorities.
Hi Yes it does seem a shame that a person like yourself so obviously interested in the archaeology of this site can't seem to get any info etc from the local authority archaeologists. I think a private company JACOBS (I'm sure it used to be called BABTI) give archaeological advice to the county and district/unitary authorities in your area which might explain the lack of interest as County Archaeologists (employed by public bodies) are normally very approachable.
I hope you didn't think I was giving you a "ticking off" on my post about Scheduled sites and I'm honestly pleased that you are interested in archaeology and have no wish to put you off.
If metal detectorists are on the site then they are breaking the law and if your feeling publicly spirited you could phone the police if you see them.
