Description

Summary: sub-cordate hand-axe with areas of gloss, from Knowle Farm, Little Bedwyn.

Research results

A lower palaeolithic flint handaxe, found during gravel digging at Knowle Farm, Little Bedwyn. Starting in 1901, and lasting until around 1925/30, gravel digging at Knowle farm revealed what was soon realised to be an exceptionally important lower palaeolithic site, and produced thousands of lower palaeolithic handaxes and other flints, many of which made their way to the collections of the Wiltshire Museum. The flint probably originate from a number of sources which were moved and mixed by repeated flooding events during glacial periods, and a number exhibit a distinctive and glasslike 'Knowle Gloss'.

This handaxe was one of a sample of 199 flint artefacts from Knowle Farm held in the collections of the Wiltshire museum examined by Rob Hosfield and Chris Greenas part of their reinvestigation of the geology of the site, as well as attempting to use new methodologies to characterise the 'Knowle Gloss' once and for all. pXRF analysis of the chemical composition of the glossy areas demonstrated it to be identical to those areas with no gloss, ruling out any sort of chemical gloss, whilst Scanning Electron Microcopy revealed no pitting, which would suggest abrasion. Rather this revealed that the lower areas of the microstructure of the surface had been filled by probable re-prescipitated silica, resulting in the smooth surface. What exactly caused this is unclear, but it does appear to be a taphonomic process visible on other sites, if an extreme example it.