One of the things that seemed to be missing after our burglary earlier this year was this Stone Age hand tool.
OK, it's annoying to lose TV's, Hi Fi kit, and other bits of electrical stuff, but this was something very special for us.
However, yesterday Lady M was rooting around in some cupboard drawers; and there it was, wrapped in some blue paper. She must have put it away on some whim; it's almost as if she'd predicted a burglary.
Such finds are not rare hereabouts, but they're not common either. I can remember exactly when and where I found it. It had been raining hard overnight, then the following morning I was passing by a freshly ploughed field (on my way mushrooming) when I saw something 'glinting' on the surface. I thought perhaps it was something metallic, but it was the above. I couldn't believe my luck.
I've since found other Stone Age artifacts, but nowhere near as perfect as this one. I imagine the original owner must have been furious to have lost it.
Uh, oh...your burglar will be back once he finds out that he missed that treasure on his previous visit.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point. We must leave Tea and Biscuits for him.
DeleteWhat an exciting find. No wonder you were upset at the thought of losing it. I'd love to be able to hold such an ancient piece of history.
ReplyDeleteYou have history around you that is even more ancient than ours.
I always imagined that if you scratch the surface in Greece you found Bronze busts of ancient gods by the dozen.
DeleteWe dig up artefacts like this as we garden... we are at the heart of a "stone tool factory" of the 50,000 years that led up to the Bronze age... my wife was looking carefully along the berm fromed from the creation of two fosse beds and found a Swiss Army flint that had five working faces... Ootzi was carrying a similar one when he died up there in the Alps
ReplyDeletePauline's find is in the middle of this still life of old and new versions of the same tools...
https://www.photocrowd.com/photos/neolithic-civilization-flint-tools-and-modern-equivalents-2493826.ff489837a/
The actual flint is above the printed photo of both sides.
Scrapers [three are bottom right] are the most common find as we dig the spuds because we are the flood plain opposite south-facing chalk cliffs where the early humans would have lived...
your biface is absolutely magnificent and from the shape suggest to me that it might even be Neanderthal [our local museum here in Grand Pressigny specialises in Early man and the local flint] Have you had it looked at by experts?
I mostly find 'scrapers', but they are less interesting than the above. I don't do much field-walking these days. No, I haven't shown mine to anyone. We do have a Museum of Prehistory nearby, maybe I'll ask them one day.
DeleteYou ought, it could be quite early... bifaces were... and yes, scrapers.... they seemed to do a lot of scraping [presumably skins!
DeleteHow lovely to find it again. Worth far more to you than any trinkets I think - an original piece of artwork!
ReplyDeleteYes, it's a really lovely thing. To think that I was the first person to touch it after thousands of years was quite something.
DeleteSuch a big one.
ReplyDeleteIt's full hand size. Beautifully made.
DeleteVery impressive. Relief that it was still in your possessions.
ReplyDeleteIt's quite a precious possession. Not worth anything in £'s, but worth a lot to us.
DeleteI hate it when something precious goes missing.... I'm so pleased that you have found it. XXXX
ReplyDeleteYes, we were extremely relieved.
DeleteI suspect some museums would love to have your biface. Will you take it back to Brighton for safe keeping?
ReplyDeleteI expect it'll stay here. We shall be taking a few valued things back with us this year, but I think this belongs here.
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