Code: 2886
Description: A mottled brown flint subtriangular cleaver, almost plano-convex in cross-section and a high-arched form, a large ancient chip to one side of the butt, some areas of cortex remaining, but an inexpensive example. From Twydall Chalk Pit on the south bank of the Medway Estuary in Kent, and collected in the early 20th Century.
Size: 90 mm/3.5 ins. in length
Culture: Lower Palaeolithic
Date: c. 250,000-400,000 years B.P.
Provenance: Ex Essex private collection.
Notes: Twydall Chalk Pit is a very rich Palaeolithic site with over two thousand Palaeolithic artefacts from the site recorded in museum collections (including the British Museum) and many more in private collections or now lost. The first flints were found there in 1908, with extensive collection during 1909-1910 and further finds from 1911 to the late 1960’s. The pit is now refilled. Although many of the finds were passed to museums, many were sold by the finders to private collectors. Items from Twydall are known from the collections of Sir Lucas White King and de Barri Crawshay. For a discussion of the geological context and collection history at Twydall, see Beresford (2018).
Reference: Beresford, F.R. 2018. Palaeolithic material from Lower Twydall Chalk Pit in Kent: the Cook and Killick Collection. Lithics: the Journal of the Lithic Studies Society 39, 20–35.
