Small Finds: Flint Flakes

They don't look much, they are not very exciting — but struck flakes of flint constitute the bulk of my finds and recordings in this project. The majority are unmodified, and apparently unused (although microwear studies might show this not to always be the case) — either unwanted waste from knapping (debitage), or the 'disposable Bic razors and Stanley knives' of prehistory. Clearly modified or utilised flakes are also commonplace — little notches suggesting they were often used for something like stripping bark off sticks.

As an amateur landscape archaeologist, what has for years amazed me is their sheer abundance in the area — in some parts of the forest, you cannot walk without walking over them. That is why one of the aspirations of this project is to map and calculate those densities.