Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

St John's [Church] Road, Radnor Park end: Palaeolithic handaxe found in brickearth in association with woolly rhinoceros tooth

Monument Types

• BUTCHERY SITE (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 150000 BC)

Associated Finds

• HANDAXE (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC? to 40001 BC?)
• MAMMAL REMAINS (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC? to 40001 BC?)

Full description

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Handaxe described by Evans (2) as "a remarkably well-shaped ovate, partially whitened [patinated]", and illustration shows a neatly-made medium-size sub-cordate in fresh condition approaching bout coupé form, although without the definitive corners of the type. Evidence suggests a little-disturbed occupation or butchery site; age is uncertain, could be Lower Palaeolithic, but could also be Middle Palaeolithic. No reason to presume it came from the nearby brickfield, it could have been recovered from building or drainage works. handaxe was Recorded by Roe in the 1960s in the Ashmolean (6), then listed in the Southern Rivers Project in the 1990s (7, 8).

Southern Water Services, 1993, Dover & Folkestone Wastewater Treatment scheme Environmental Statement (Unpublished document). SKe6815.

<1> F1 CFW 23-APR-1964 (OS Card Reference). SKE42721.

<2> Ancient Stone implements 1897 621 illus (J Evans) (OS Card Reference). SKE33070.

<3> Maidstone Museum Archaeol Gaz Anon (undated) (OS Card Reference). SKE46449.

<4> OS 6" 1872 (OS Card Reference). SKE48309.

<5> Field report for monument TR 23 NW 37 - April, 1964 (Bibliographic reference). SKE5621.

<6> Southern Water Services, 1993, Dover & Folkestone Wastewater Treatment scheme Environmental Statement (Unpublished document). SKE6815.

<7> Evans, J., 1897, The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain, p621, 622 Fig. 464B (Monograph). SWX6573.

<8> Roe, D.A., 1968, Gazetteer of British Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Sites, p153 (Monograph). SWX6570.

<9> Wessex Archaeology, 1994, The Southern Rivers Palaeolithic Project, Report No. 3 — The Sussex Raised Beaches and the Bristol Avon. Wessex Archaeology, Salisbury. [Vol. I - text], p44, SXR1.1 (Unpublished document). SKE55104.

<10> Wessex Archaeology, The Southern Rivers Palaeolithic Project: maps for Report No. 3, Regions 2 & 6, The Sussex Raised Beaches and the Bristol Avon [Vol II - maps], SXR1.1 (Unpublished document). SKE29917.

Sources and further reading