Stone tool, pointed hand axe

Collection type: Object
Description: Stone tool, pointed hand axe
Long description: 'This implement has been broken at the tip. It is a fairly typical Wolvercote-style plano-convex handaxe, but has slightly incurving sides (although it is not a true ficron as defined by Cranshaw 1983, 88), and is without the pronounced "ridge" apparent on some of the other bifaces. It has been made from a flint nodule. There is a mineral inclusion at the tip of the more convex face, and a cortex patch at the butt end of the flatter face. The butt is somewhat roughly made. The implement is in an unrolled condition and is unpatinated.' (From page 24 of The Wolvercote Channel Handaxe Assemblage: A Comparative Study, by Joyce A. Tyldesley (BAR British Series 153), Oxford: B.A.R. (1986).) [AS 19/07/2011; JC 15 1 2015]
Geographical reference: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Europe > Northern Europe > United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; England Oxfordshire Oxford Wolvercote Wolvercote Brick Pit
Person: Maker Unknown Maker; Field collector Alexander James Montgomerie Bell; PRM source Archibald Colquhoun Bell
Date / Period: Archaeological period: Lower Palaeolithic Acheulian
Date collected: By 1920
Acquisition information: Purchased: 1920
Materials and processes: Material Stone, Process Flaked
Dimensions: Width: max 66 mm, Length: max 119 mm, Weight 223 g
Object numbers: Accession number: 1921.91.473.7
Research and responses: In 1894 Alexander James Montgomerie Bell published two articles about Palaeolithic remains from Wolvercote in volume 30 of the journal Antiquary. Full references: Bell, A.M. 1894. 'Palaeolithic Remains at Wolvercote, Oxfordshire'. Antiquary 30: 148 - 152. and Bell, A.M. 1894. 'Palaeolithic Remains at Wolvercote, Oxfordshire, No. II'. Antiquary 30: 192 - 198. [MN 05/06/2009]
In 1900 a third paper was published by Bell updating his discoveries at the site. Full Reference: Bell, A.M. 1900. 'On the Occurrence of Flint Implements of Palaeolithic Type on an Old Land-Surface in Oxfordshire, Near Wolvercote and Pear-Tree Hill, Together with a Few Implements of Various Plateau Types' The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 50: 81. This paper can be accessed online through JSTOR. The stable URL is http://www.jstor.org/stable/2842715. [MN 05/06/2009]
A. M. Bells most detailed publication on the Wolvercote deposits was published in 1904 in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society. Full reference: Bell, A.M. 1904. 'Implementiferous Sections at Wolvercote (Oxfordshire)'. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society 60: 120-132. This paper can be accessed online through the Geological Societies Lyell Collection. The URL is http://jgslegacy.lyellcollection.org/cgi/content/abstract/60/1-4/120. [MN 05/06/2009]
The Oxford University Museum of Natural History also holds a considerable number of geological specimens collected by Bell from Wolvercote, see: Q.00285 - Q.00378, Q.00829 - Q.00909 and Q.01758 - Q.01763. The OUMNH catalogue can be accessed online at http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/database/geology/pleicene.htm. [MN 05/06/2009]
This object was studied by Hyeong Woo Lee as part of his doctoral dissertation submitted in 2000, entitled A Study of Lower Palaeolithic Stone Artefacts from Selected Sites in the Upper and Middle Thames Valley, with Particular Reference to the R.J.MacRae Collection. Lee numbered each object according to his own system, with objects labelled with a small, round red sticker. This sticker was removed when numbered. This tool was numbered by Lee '48'. [AS 03/02/2011].
The Wolvercote Brick Pit [SP 4977 1043, now a lake] from which this object was recovered is recorded on the English Heritage maintained National Monuments Record under monument no. 336734. This record can be accessed online at http://pastscape.english-heritage.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=336734. [MN 05/06/2009]
This object was examined by Joyce Tyldesley for her PhD published with B.A.R. in 1986. See publications list below. [AS 21/07/2011]
Thirty-four handaxes from Wolvercote in the PRM's collections formed one of the datasets discussed in 'A Re-Examination of Variability in Handaxe Form in the British Palaeolithic', by Kate Emery (London: University College London, Ph.D. thesis, 2010). (Available online at http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/19299/1/19299.pdf .) [JC 5 5 2017]
Associated publications: Described on page 34 and illustrated (Figure 2.18) on page 35 of The Wolvercote Channel Handaxe Assemblage: A Comparative Study, by Joyce A. Tyldesley (BAR British Series 153), Oxford: B.A.R. (1986). Tyldesley writes (page 34): '(6) Figure 2.6* (Pitt Rivers Museum) (L 129mm; reconstructed after a break), B 70mm, T 38mm, W 230g. This implement has been broken at the tip. It is a fairly typical Wolvercote-style plano-convex handaxe, but has slightly incurving sides (although it is not a true ficron as defined by Cranshaw 1983, 88), and is without the pronounced "ridge" apparent on some of the other bifaces. It has been made from a flint nodule. There is a mineral inclusion at the tip of the more convex face, and a cortex patch at the butt end of the flatter face. The butt is somewhat roughly made. The implement is in an unrolled condition and is unpatinated.' [AS 19/07/2011; JC 21 1 2015]

Search terms: Tool, Hand-axe