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Description: | The Bidford Palaeolith is extensively worked, though ancient damage and weathering partly obscure some of its features. The artefact is bifacially flaked, with a cutting edge to lateral edges and the creation of a tip - this original edge is overlain with ancient damage (creamy blue patina) and localised modern damage revealing the original flint colour. This artefact has been classified as a Mousterian handaxe. Face A shows light to moderate orange iron-staining. The original cutting edge has been largely removed by a combination of modern and extensive ancient damage - the ancient damage is patinated a cream and blue colour. Face A retains about cortex (the porous outer skin of the flint cobble) over approximately 35% of its area, including a cortical butt. Non-cortical areas of the artefact are extensively flaked, mainly by the use of a hard (stone) hammer, but with a single flake removal in the bottom left of Face A that is shallow but extensive and probably results from the use of a soft (antler) hammer. Face B also shows light to moderate orange iron-staining. Face B retains about cortex over approximately 50% of its area, including a cortical butt region. Some of this cortex obscures the flaking of this face, indicating that some of this cortex is not original, but rather the result of natural weathering processes after the artefact was discarded. Similarly to Face A, the non-cortical areas of the artefact are extensively flaked, though in this case hard hammers were exclusively used. Flaws within the flint have created the 'step' fractures in the mid section of this face. Ancient damage to the edge of this face is slightly less extensive than that on Face A - in the mid right region of Face B a portion of the original edge remains. The Edge Profiles and Tip of the Bidford palaeolith are heavily damaged, which will have substantially modified both the sharpness and probably the shape of the original cutting edges of the artefact. Removals that are either cream or blue in colour are the result of ancient damage, most likely resulting from crushing by sediment or transport in rivers, modern damage strips the coloured staining and patina that have developed over millennia and reveal the original flint colour. A small portion of Profile A retains the original cutting edge. The tip is in a similar condition, and may not have shown such a pronounced point at the time of manufacture. This is a small, flint Palaeolithic artefact that has been bifacially flaked. The quantity and distribution of cortex retained on the artefact indicate that the blank form was most likely a river cobble. Flaking on both faces extend deeply into the body of the artefact - attention has not simply focused on creating and shaping an edge - and was mainly done using a hard (stone) hammer. Flaking is extensive enough for classification as a biface/handaxe. The small size would suggest that this may be a Mousterian of the Acheulean Tradition (MAT) biface, and as such would be associated with the Neanderthals. The biface has been extensively modified by nature processes after its discard. Little remains of the original edge, or tip and it should be remembered that these regions may have shown concentrated flaking that now cannot be detected.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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