NHER 58794 (Find Spot record) - Palaeolithic handaxe, Munford Breck gravel pit

1917. Stray Find
Found at "Munford Breck gravel pit":
1 Palaeolithic flint handaxe. Purchased by Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 1947.33.11). Information from museum records.
This object is recorded as being found by 'Baldry', although it is part of the F. N. Haward collection and appears to have been found around the same time as a handaxe discovered by Haward in the adjacent field (NHER 4950). The location of Munford Breck is known and although there is no cartographic evidence for a pit within the field itself, one can be seen to the west, within the narrow strip plantation that separated it from the adjoining field. This pit is the most likely source of this find and the record has been mapped on this basis (the pit is still visible, see NHER 55981).

This object is listed in (S1) and is briefly described on (S2). The length listed makes it highly likely that this was the handaxe Haward exhibited at a meeting of the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia in 1920 (S3). It was described as "...a pointed palaeolith of Chellean type 5.2 inches long, form gravel at 100-ft (O.D)". This handaxe is also noted in (S4), (S5) and (S6). It should be noted that (S2), (S6) and (S7) treat NHER 4950 and NHER 58794 as the same site.
P. Watkins (HES), 2 May 2013.