Code: 2483
Description: A good-sized ovate flint handaxe with a medium brown to almost black patina. Some cortex remaining, some minor patchy encrustation, a few small edge chips, and some smoothing due to exposure to the desert winds, otherwise condition good, found at Thebes, Egypt.
Size: 130 mm/5.1 ins. in length
Culture: Egyptian
Date: c. 300,000-150,000 years B.P.
Provenance: From the collection of De Barri Crawshay (1857-1924).
Background: De Barri Crawshay, of Sevenoaks, Kent, was the son of a successful welsh ironmaster, and a notable collector who built up an important collection of flint implements and stone tools through collection in the field and through purchase. Today, he is best remembered for his collection of eoliths, now regarded as products of natural erosion, and for his work on palaeolithic material from the North Downs of Kent. He also cultivated orchids. His collection of flint implements was sold at auction by Stevens’s Auction Rooms Ltd, 38 King Street, Covent Garden, London, on 17 April 1929, although this particular piece remained with the family.
