Flint Flake Identification

How to Spot and Identify Prehistoric Flint Flakes

This page sets out to show the visitor, exactly what I see when I record prehistoric flint flakes, worked flint, flake scatters, and struck flint during the surface-collection surveys. Here, instead of sample collection bags, I have taken a digital camera onto two restocked forestry compartments in Thetford Forest, Norfolk, to capture close up shots of flint finds in situ - well sort of anyway, in this case, scattered on the surface of exposed forest soils.

This page is not about encouraging people to remove artifacts - it is about helping others to identify prehistoric struck flint, and to explore the archaeology of their own landscapes for themselves. Students of lithics and archaeology may find it refreshing to see a flake identification guide set outdoors in the soil - that is where and how you find them - not washed, marked, and bagged. Ok, let me take you into the field itself - right down to the surface close up! By the way, no flakes were hurt in the making of this gallery. Please click on the thumbnails or follow the tour.