As part of studying for my degree in Conservation at the University of Lincoln I took the opportunity to work on placement at Allen Archaeology. I was keen to work with Allen after my interest in archaeology was sparked during my second year studies at a time where I was working on excavated Anglo-Saxon burial finds. I’ll admit however, like (most) archaeologists I have now met, I was initially exposed to archaeology through watching countless episodes of ‘Time Team’ as a child with my father!
So for six weeks I have been diving into a world of pottery, CBM, human remains, tonnes of mud, and of course plenty of tea and biscuits. The majority of my time has been spent ensuring that the site finds have been sufficiently cleaned along with marking and repackaging them ready for archiving and dispatch onto various museums. One type of find that I have found particularly interesting while working here is flint, which I really enjoyed getting the chance to examine and research further into.
Invasively worked ‘knife’
Flint is a cooler than average sedimentary rock and a form of the mineral quartz. It was an invaluable material through the majority of the prehistoric period. Flint has a unique cryptocrystalline molecular structure which is what makes it so hard and durable, and when this stone is struck, it fractures easily and cleanly into uniform flakes with a very sharp edge, capable of even cutting flesh. It’s definitely a clear winner over other kinds of rock which just break uselessly. Plus, the stone-age folk didn’t want to labour away wasting time and resources crafting a tool out of a softer rock that wouldn’t even be able to last! They realised that flint was tough enough to be used over and over, but was also workable, breaking predictably, allowing skilled, reliable tool making techniques to emerge.
A site of Allen’s in Norfolk yielded many lithic artefacts and tools which I got to inspect, including an ‘end and side scraper’ and an ‘invasively flaked knife’. Flint tools come in numerous variations such as scrapers, knives, arrowheads, piercers, awls, microliths and many more, which were used in all matter of tasks through day to day life.
Upon close examination, both the scraper and knife show signs of reworking in the form of tiny uniform chips along several edges, along with rippling which radiates like shock waves from the original strike point. These features distinguish them from naturally occurring flint and allow us to determine that they were in fact modified by ancient man. The function of a scraper tool was likely for stripping fat from skins in hide working or for working wood, and could have been either held by hand or attached to a handle. Similarly, a knife may have been used for cutting through flesh or simply as a multipurpose tool.
Flint scraper
These finds, which appear to have been manufactured during the late Neolithic, give a fascinating insight into what life in the period was like. Archaeology allows us to reconnect with our past and for me it’s a privilege to handle objects such as these which may have once served as crucial elements of survival. I personally love to speculate about the life and story behind archaeological finds and envision our younger world and its people. It makes it all very real!
This placement has definitely reinforced my passion for the subject, and I and can’t wait to further my knowledge and experiences.