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Low Hauxley Archive: Mesolithic Flint Tools
Stone tools and their waste flakes are our largest source of evidence for the Mesolithic period. They are found in a
wide variety of shapes and sizes, but at Low Hauxley most of them represent the waste left behind after a flint tool
has been made. The Low Hauxley flints date to around 6000BC to 4000BC. We have assumed that at some time around 8000
to 6000 years ago, someone stopped to rest here - perhaps to take shelter and, while they were resting, they made
some flint tools.
A range of tools could have been made. Small blades for setting into wooden or bone hafts and secured with resin to
form the tips and barbs of arrows or harpoons. Scrapers for preparing animal skins, awls for making holes in leather
in advance of sewing, and axes for hunting or cutting wood. Although flint was most commonly used to make tools,
because it chips in an easy predictable fashion, while remaining strong and very sharp, other stone could be used
where flint supplies were short, such as chert or quartz.
From here you can watch a video clip of a Mesolithic woman knapping flint
or learn more about the earliest people at Low Hauxley.
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