Huge Stone Age Acheulean Ovate Flint Handaxe

Trapezoidal in plan with asymmetrical curved cutting edge, polished surface. 303 grams, 12 cm



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. Flint mining was also carried out by the Neolithic folk. Polished axes and leaf forms, arrowheads and knives, or possibly lance heads, are characteristic of the Neolithic flint work.

Light grey stone mottled with blue, with a gently curving blade and some cortex on the upper edge. 24.4 grams, 89 mm



Found at Fourneau du Diable, Bourdielles Dordogne, an important Upper Palaeolithic prehistoric rock shelter. Ex Sir Arthur John Evans (1851–1941), British archaeologist and son of Sir John Evans (1823-1908). Ex Henry Dewey (1876–1965), a prominent British geologist and archaeologist who made seminal contributions to the study of the Palaeolithic period. Ex R Richard Widdowson, a well-known UK-based antiquities specialist who owned the gallery 'Ancient Times' in Scarborough in Southern England. Ex J Weston Smith. Accompanied by an illustrated collector's information card.

Piriform in plan with a rounded butt, possibly natural, two old inked collection notes 'SNC S.82 WGS' and 4087/1/28', and a pencilled note '74.7' to the other side. 74.9 grams, 72 mm



Previously in several old 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.