NHER 9372 (Find Spot record) - Neolithic flint axehead roughout, north bank of Yare near Bluebell Road

1914/1915. Stray Find.
Found by J. E. Sainty near Morse's Rose Garden, north bank of Yare above Bluebell Road:
1 Palaeolithic Late Acheulian flint handaxe. Donated to Norwich Castle Museum in 1959 (NWHCM : 1959.47). Information from (S1). Subsequently identified by F. Healy as a Neolithic axe roughout made on a flake (S2).

According to (S1) this is the object Sainty described in (S3) as a "…broken specimen of late Acheulean type with curiously parallel sides…found in 1915 within the Norwich boundary at Eaton". As noted by Wymer (S4) this is probably the same object as a "Palaeolithic 'Drift' implement" from Eaton that Sainty exhibited at a meeting of the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia on 19 October 1914 (although this would suggest the date of discovery was subsequent recorded incorrectly). This was described as "4 1/2 in. by 2 1/2 in, broken at one end, with ochreous patina" (S5). This object is almost certainly why Eaton is listed in (S6) as one of the locations that had produced "Palaeolithic Drift" implements between 1907 and 1919 (Sainty being recorded as the finder).

Although it is notable that only one object is mentioned by Sainty himself in (S3) there has nevertheless clearly been a degree of confusion over how many objects he actually recovered at this site. Roe (S7) listed two handaxes with this provenance, one in the NCM and one held by Sainty - no references are given although it is possible that he regarded the objects mentioned by (S3) and (S5) as different objects. The possibility that there were two handaxes is also noted on (S8) and in (S9) and (S10), along with Healy's identification of the object in the NCM as Neolithic.

The mapped extent of this record indicates the general area in which this object (or objects) was probably recovered.

See NHER 60110 for further discussion of the poorly provenanced Palaeolithic finds from Eaton.

Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 20 July 2014.