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LOT 0261
Huge Stone Age Acheulean Ovate Flint Handaxe
LOWER PALAEOLITHIC PERIOD, CIRCA 600,000-350,000 B.P.
8 1/4 in. (1.54 kg, 21.1 cm).
Extremely large example of a chopping tool, likely made by Homo heidelbergensis; mounted on a custom-made display stand.
ProvenanceFrom the well-regarded, long-closed quarry site of St Meme, Charente, France.
From an old, large French collection.
Acquired on the European art market.
From a UK private collection.
Cf. MacGregor, A. (ed.), Antiquities from Europe and the Near East in the Collection of Lord McAlpine of West Green, Oxford, 1987, items 1.10, 1.11,1.12, for similar types.
FootnotesSmaller handaxes continued as components of Middle Palaeolithic industries (Acheulian and Mousterian) associated with the Neanderthal and Homo sapiens. These rather crude handaxes probably reflect the coarser nature of the stone.
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AUCTIONS:
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Stone Age Fine Knapped Point
Upper Palaeolithic Period, circa 40,000-22,000 B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £338
A knapped lozenge-shaped bifacial tool in light grey flint. 38 grams, 94 mm
Found Yonne, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Region, France. From a large French collection formed in the early 1900s. Acquired on the UK art market. From the private collection of an East Anglian, UK, specialist collector. -
Farnham Stone Age Flint Blades and Tools
Neolithic Period, circa 6,000 B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £338
Comprising fifteen knapped implements, including blades, most with an inked notation. 67 grams total, 27-65 mm
Found during the original official excavations in the Farnham area, Surrey, UK, which were conducted by Harold Faulker (1875-1963), and William Francis Rankine (c.1877-1962), who were instrumental with the excavation works and pit dwellings at sites including Six Bells, Frensham, Tilford, Thursley and Bagshot, and Waverley, amongst others at and near Farnham in the 1930s and 1940s. Much of the material is now in the prestigious Farnham museum. The present part of the collection having been gifted to their good friend and Haselmere Parish Priest, Charles Borelli (c.1914-2000) of Farnham; who was part of the Borelli family from Italy who emigrated from Lake Como in 1828 to set up the Borelli family watch and jewellery business; thence by family descent to his nephew.
Farnham district is one of the most interesting prehistoric regions in England, and has been visited by a succession of prehistoric peoples from Palaeolithic times onwards. Along the southern slope of the Farnham valley are three gravel terraces, which are famous prehistorically and have yielded large quantities of flint implements and bones of prehistoric animals, notably the mammoth. In prehistoric times, the chalk deposits played an important role in attracting settlers, as they contained rich layers of flint nodules used to make implements. The Farnham Gravels have been an abundant source of Palaeolithic finds, most prominent being hand axes. The axes differ in type, and each type is associated with a cultural phase of the Palaeolithic period. Types similar to these are found in similar deposits in the Somme valley and in many English valley gravels. Neolithic people are known to have engaged in flint mining. Polished axes and leaf forms, arrowheads and knives, or possibly lance heads, are characteristic of Neolithic flint work. -
Stone Age Clactonian Flint Scraper
Lower Palaeolithic Period, circa 700,000-300,000 B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £52
Ovate in plan with a rounded blade, inked collection notes '3999/1/28' '1827. SNC 3.84 WGS', and a pencilled note '1237' on the other side. 124 grams, 87 mm
Previously in several old Stone Age tool collections, having been annotated with three different accession numbers. Acquired from an Oxfordshire, UK, auction house. From the private collection of a West Midlands lady collector.
