A New Palaeolithic Giant Handaxe from Britain: Initial Results from Excavations at Maritime Academy, Medway, Kent

2023/05/23 by Letty Ingrey, Martin Bates, Sarah Duffy +1 · 1 voice
Social Sciences · Earth and Planetary Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Maritime and Coastal Archaeology

paper · pdf · doi:10.11141/ia.61.6

openalex publication_date 2023/05/23 · openalex created_date 2023/05/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

This paper will present initial results from excavations at Maritime Academy, Frindsbury which produced several handaxes, two of which can be classed as ‘giant handaxes’. Artefacts were recovered from fluvial deposits in the Medway Valley and are thought to date from the Marine Isotope Stage 9 interglacial. This paper will focus on the largest of these handaxes and will present metrical data for the artefact and initial comparison with similar artefacts from the British Palaeolithic.

Citations

• Fluvial archives as a framework for the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic: patterns of British artefact distribution and potential chronological implications
• Chronological variations in handaxes: patterns detected from fluvial archives in north‐west Europe
• A large handaxe from Wadi Dabsa and early hominin adaptations within the Arabian Peninsula

Discussions

• Late Acheulean 'Giant' Handaxe from the Maritime Academy, Frindsbury, Kent. A very large flint handaxe was found in fluvial deposits thought to date from the MIS 9 interglacial (c.300,000 years ago). [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]

Related

• Big enough to matter: on the frequency and chronology of giant handaxes in the British Lower Palaeolithic
• Chronological variations in handaxes: patterns detected from fluvial archives in north‐west Europe
• Recent Work at the Lower Palaeolithic Site of Corfe Mullen, Dorset, England
• "Two tribes": Handaxe shape variation shows distinct regional cultural groups in southeastern Britain between 424 000 and 374 000 BP
• Palaeolithic archaeology of the Bytham River: human occupation of Britain during the early Middle Pleistocene and its European context