- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Cast of a Palaeolithic hand-axe [SM (Verve) 22/9/2016]
- Long description
- Painted plaster cast of Palaeolithic hand-axe from Hoxne. Pointed axe with mid grey colouration [patina] and areas where the colour has come away. The cast has arrows drawn on in white ink to show the direction of blows used to form the original axe. [SM (Verve) 13/6/2016]
- Geographical reference
- [England Suffolk Mid Suffolk Hoxne]
- Person
- Maker Unknown Maker
- Field collector John Frere
- PRM source Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection
- Date / Period
- Date made: 400000 BC Archaeological period: Palaeolithic
- Date collected
- By 1874? [1797]
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 1884
- Dimensions
- Thick: max 39 mm, Width: max 80 mm, Length: max 151 mm, Weight 174 g
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1884.122.2
- Research and responses
The hand-axe from Hoxne is held by the Society of Antiquaries of London, and is currently on long-term loan to the British Museum. [Dan Hicks 01/07/2013]
This appears to be a cast of one of the two hand-axes found at Hoxne by John Frere in 1797. Another cast of the same object is 1884.125.148. Both casts are not exact replicas of either hand-axes (the original is more pointed and the flake scars are different). Please see http://www.hoxne.net/history/prehistory.html for further information on John Frere and his finds. [CG [Excav. PR] 27/09/2013]
- Associated publications
- Frere, J. 1800. Account of Flint Weapons Discovered at Hoxne in Suffolk. Archaeologia 13: 204-205. [Dan Hicks 01/07/2013] Image published as part of an image gallery on the Arts and Humanities Research Board website http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/News-and-Events/Image-Gallery/Pages/ImageObjectText.aspx as part of the project image/object/text. Image with the caption written by Dan Hicks (Lecturer Curator in archaeology, Pitt Rivers Museum) 'This object is a plaster cast of a 400,000-year-old Palaeolithic hand-axe. A label bears the text “FOUND AT HOXNE, SUFFOLK IN 1797”, which is re-written onto the object – a reference to a discovery by John Frere, who published his ‘Account of Flint Weapons Discovered at Hoxne in Suffolk’ in the journal Archaeologia in 1800. The object is one of ‘3 casts of implements in the British Mus’ that Pitt-Rivers recorded in his collection. It demonstrates the importance to Pitt-Rivers of acquiring casts of museum objects for comparative purposes. The original axe is still held by the British Museum today (Pitt Rivers Museum Accession Number 1884.122.2). ' [FB 15/08/2014]
Search terms: Tool, Reproduction, Cast, Hand-axe