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Executive Summary: Monumental Late Mesolithic Curated Hafted Hunting Knife

FINDERS NOTE — Why field-walking a live, active contextual site changes everything:

Unlike static commercial dealers offering isolated, random artifacts stripped of provenance, working a live landscape like W Field allows collectors to map direct chronological and typological comparisons in real-time. The unique "deflated palimpsest" strata is yielding a corpus of variable typological lithics and organics, offering a detailed, singular insight into epochs of human activity spread across a 5-hectare time capsule—deposited inches above the gravel-scattered bedrock of oolitic and bioclastic limestone.

Classification: Primary Curated Composite Hunting / Heavy Butchery Core-Blade (Couteau emmanché à épaulement)

Culture / Period: British Late Mesolithic (c. 6500 – 4000 BC)

Provenance: Elevated Terrace Gravel Ridge, Field W, United Kingdom (Recorded Single-Locus Camp Recovery)

Dimensions: 97 mm (Length) × 47 mm (Width) × 18 mm (Max Apex Thickness) | 1 mm Acute Radial Cutting Perimeter

Basal Tang / Tenon: 15 mm × 10 mm Squared Anti-Torque Base with Mechanical Stop-Notch

Mass: 77 grams

Material & Patina: Dense mottled grey-and-cream nodular chalk flint with rich iron-ochre perimeter staining and authentic surface stabilization.

Technological & Functional Hallmarks

Curated Tool Architecture: Unlike incidental or expedient debitage discarded at a camp, this knife represents a major investment in curated hunting equipment. It was knapped as a permanent, volumetric core blade intended to be carried across seasonal territories for large-game butchery and carcass disjointing (aurochs, red deer, wild boar).

Stepped Hafting Shoulder / Stop-Notch: The junction between the active cutting body and proximal base features a deliberate, stepped truncation notch. This diagnostic stop-ridge seated directly against the lip of a slotted antler sleeve or hardwood handle, absorbing heavy longitudinal thrust and preventing the stone from splitting the organic socket under force.

Squared Anti-Torque Tenon: The 15 x 10 x 15mm squared butt was deliberately faceted into a uniform rectangular tang, eliminating lateral wobble and rotational twist inside a composite hafting collar.

Reinforced Cortical Keel: The 18mm thick dorsal spine retains a heavy, natural chalk-cortex back, functioning as a high-strength structural backbone against lateral snapping and providing an optimal textured surface for birch-tar pitch bonding and rawhide binding.

Acute Cutting Edge: The cross-section tapers smoothly from the heavy 18mm back down to an acute 1mm radial cutting perimeter displaying extensive micro-retouch and continuous slicing wear.

Legal Compliance, Title & Platform Disclaimers

Landowner Consent & Title: Recovered with full, explicit landowner consent on private agricultural land in Northern Cambridgeshire. Full legal title is transferred to the buyer upon sale.

UK Treasure Act 1996 Exemption: Non-metallic stone lithic artifact. Free from statutory reporting requirements under the Treasure Act 1996.

PAS & Regulatory Recording Status: Archived in the seller's Private Field Register due to regional FLO processing backlogs.

Export Controls & Policy Compliance: Fully compliant with eBay’s Artefacts and Cave Formations Policy.

Typological & Methodological References

Andrefsky, William (2005). Lithics: Macroscopic Approaches to Analysis (Cambridge Manuals in Archaeology).

Butler, Chris (2005). Prehistoric Flintwork.

Reference material and further reading:

Where possible ancient artifacts may be referenced to similar material observed in the following publications within my collection:

British Artefacts Vol.1, 2 and 3: Brett Hammond [Greenlight Publishing 2010]:

Celtic & Roman Artefacts: Nigel Mills [Greenlight Publishing 2007]:

SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome: Mary Beard [Profile Books 2015]:

50 Bronze Age Artefacts: Portable Antiquities Scheme: Dot Boughton [Amberley Publishing 2021]:

Pottery in Britain 4000BC to AD 1900: Lloyd Laing [Greenlight Publishing 2003]:

British Iron Age Coins In The British Museum: Richard Hobbs [British Museum 1996]:

Swords of The Viking Age: Ian Peirce: [The Boydell Press 2003]:

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society Volume 85: [Cambridge University Press 2019].

Mesolithic Europe: Geoff Bailey / Penny Spikins [Cambridge University Press 2008]

Viking Art: James Graham-Campbell: [Thames & Hudson, London 2018]

Roman Coins Vol. 1, 2 & 3: David R Sear: [Spink London 2000]:

The Roman Cavalry: Karen R. Dixon: [B. . Batsford 1997]:

Rome’s Saxon Shore: Coastal Defenses of Roman Britain AD 250 – 500: Nic Fields [Osprey Publishing 2006]:

Amulets of Ancient Egypt: Carol Andrews: [University of Texas Press / British Museum Press 1994]:

The Uniforms of the Roman World: Military dress, weapons, artillery, ships, siege engines and fortifications: Kevin F. Killey: [Anness Publishing 2017]:

Where possible finger rings may be referenced to similar material observed in the following publications within my collection:

Victorian and Albert Museum CATALOGUE OF FINGER RINGS 1930: C.C.Oman [Anglia Publishing. 1991 – Now out of print]:

Finger Rings: Diana Scarisbrick / Martin Henig: [Ashmolean Museum Oxford. 2003]:

Ancient Rings An Illustrated Collectors Guide: T. N. Polio: [McFarland & Co Inc. 2018:

1000 Rings: Inspiring Adornments of the Hand: Le Van, Marthe; Ebendorf, Robert [W: Lark Books 2004]: