handaxe
Accession Number NWHCM : 2000.99.1
Description
Axe, Lower Palaeolithic flint handaxe c500000 BC; ovate handaxe in black flint with pale grey coarse-grained inclusions, one face carries two small areas of pebble cortex; mint condition except for small V-shaped break at butt end
Read Morehandaxe
The discovery of this simple flint tool on a beach in north Norfolk led to a sequence of events that have amazed the world and transformed our understanding of the earliest human occupation of our continent. This is the earliest known handaxe in Britain and, when originally discovered in 2000, was the oldest known human-made object in the whole of northern Europe
Creation Date
500000 BC
Material
flint
Measurements
37 mm
Department
Archaeology : Norwich Castle Museum