NHER 35629 (Find Spot record) - Neolithic or Bronze Age miniature polished flint axe

2000. Stray find.
Neolithic or Bronze Age miniature polished flint axe (S1), 47mm by 45mm by 21mm: a most unusual form, probably made by reduction of a larger broken axe. The highly polished cutting edge, which is damaged by many small chips, rapidly narrows to an almost tang-like butt with a flat end and slightly waisted lateral edges. The 'waisted tang' has been formed by steep flaking. The material is a black lustrous flint with a creamy rectangle of cortex on one face near the butt.
(S2) illustrates a similar example, but larger and less waisted, from East Dean, Sussex, and suggests that for use it could be fitted in a socket (of another). A possible alternative explanation might be that it was not intended for use but served as an amulet or pendant. A further possibility is that it could be a flint copy of a Bronze Age chisel (S1).
Identified by P. A. Robins (NCM).
See (S1) in file.
K. Hinds (NLA), 22 August 2000.