1884.122.531

Collection type

Object

Description

Stone flake

Long description

Stone flake with white and mid grey patina covering all surfaces with orange brown staining. [CC [Excav. PR] 26/09/2013]

Geographical reference

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Europe > Northern Europe > United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

England Somerset Mendip St Cuthbert Out Wookey Hole Hyena Den Cave

Person

Maker Unknown Maker

Field collector James Parker

PRM source Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection

Date / Period

Archaeological period: Palaeolithic

Date collected

By 1884

Acquisition information

Donated: 1884

Materials and processes

Material Stone, Process Flaked

Dimensions

Thick: max 5 mm, Width: max 34 mm, Length: max 37 mm, Weight 4 g

Object numbers

Accession number: 1884.122.531

Research and responses

James Parker 'of Oxford' explored Wookey caves with W. Boyd Dawkins, see biographies [AP 30/07/2009]

W.B. Dawkins published 2 articles on the Wookey caves: "Dawkins, W.B. 1862. ‘On a hyaena den at Wookey Hole near Wells' Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society 18:115-126" and "Dawkins, W.B. 1863. 'On a hyaena den at Wookey Hole near Wells No. II' Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society 19:260-276" [CB 28/10/2009]

World Archaeology at the Pitt Rivers Museum (p. 202): "The PRM founding collection also contains 6 artefacts from ‘Wookey Hole’ (1884.122.527–532). Pitt-Rivers acquired them from James Parker (1833–1912), antiquarian and publisher of Oxford, who excavated the Hyena Den Cave at Wookey Hole with William Boyd Dawkins in the early 1860s (Dawkins 1862, 1863). These are certainly from the excavations at the Hyena Den Cave, and not from the Wookey Hole cave. A note with the artefacts records that the largest object is figured by Balch, who excavated in the Wookey Hole caves in the early 20th century (Balch 1914: p.167, fig 301). As provenanced finds these should be included in any future review of material from the site." [Dan Hicks 27/4/2016]

Associated publications

PRM items 1884.122.527-.531 are listed as numbers 23 to 27 on page 262 of 'The Hyaena Den (Wookey Hole), Mendip Hills, Somerset', by E. K. Tratman, D. T. Donovan, and J. B. Campbell, in Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society, Vol. 12, no. 3 (1971), pp. 245-279. : '23-27. Oxford, Pitt-Rivers collection, Nos vi. 24 (a-e) ex. J. Parker coll. Some marked "WkH" in ink fig. 44b (23, 25). / Thin, flat flakes with irregular outlines. All or some of them may be trimmings from the manufacture of bifaces.' This item is also illustrated (line drawing by Mr T. L. Gwatkin) at bottom centre of Figure 44B on page 263. (NB The letters 'a' to 'e' have been inscribed in pencil on these five objects; this object is inscribed with the letter 'c'.) (Copy in RDF: Researchers; Tratman.) [JC 7 6 2016]

Search terms: Tool, Flake