Story:

The owner of these objects lives a short distance from the river Bann. Pieces of flint are often pulled from the garden beds behind the house. While many of the pieces are debitage – the by-product of flint knapping – there are also several partially finished and completed stone tools.

These two knives are related to other butt-trimmed blades of the Late Mesolithic in that the proximal or butt end has been retouched, reducing the area of the striking platform. The pale piece to the left is very thick and may be a rough-out, or incomplete blade with minimal the trimming around the proximal (butt) end.

The blade to the right is a more finished example. It has a sharp, lightly retouched blade on the right, with steep retouching along the left hand side, removing much of the cutting edge and creating what is termed a ‘backed blade’. The butt of this blade has been well trimmed indicating where it would have been hafted to a handle.