Middle Palaeolithic handaxe, North Sea (1)

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This handaxe (Hanson_0936_001) was discovered in aggegrates from Licence Area 240 in the East Coast dredging region, North Sea, approx 10 km south-east of Great Yarmouth. Aaron Chidgey discovered it at Dagenham Wharf. It was examined by our flint specialist, Phil Harding. This Middle Palaeolithic artefact is a cordiform handaxe with damage most likely from extraction process. This, however, reveals the grey mottled flint from which it was made that is otherwise obscured by yellow-brown surface stain. Both sides show a limited number of well struck blows to thin and shape the flint. This manufacturing process also produces relatively thin edges susceptible to edge damage, as this example demonstrates. This find was part of a larger assemblage of 30 flint artefacts and 111 fragments of animal bones that were all reported through the Marine Aggregate Industry Protocol for the Reporting of Finds of Archaeological Interest.