Saltley handaxe

The Saltley handaxe is a quartzite hand axe found in the gravels of the valley of the River Rea in the Saltley area of Birmingham, England in 1890. Believed to be approximately 500,000 years old,[1] it was the first human artefact from the paleolithic era found in the English Midlands, which had previously been considered not to have been inhabited before the end of the last glacial period.[2]

The Saltley Handaxe illustrated by John Evans in 1897

The axe is approximately 100mm long and was formed from a brown piece of quartzite.[3] It would have been used by members of the pre-human species Homo heidelbergensis,[4] but its rounded edges and manufacture from a material not present locally suggest that it was not found in situ, but was transported to its find site by the action of glacial meltwater.[3] The find was documented and illustrated by the archaeologist John Evans in his book Ancient Stone Implements of Britain in 1897,[2] who commented that "the question now arises whether the assumed absence of Palaeolithic implements over this area may not be due to their not having yet been found, and not to their non-existence".[4]

It is now in the collection of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.[5]

See also

References
  1. "An Introduction To Birmingham's Archaeology". Birmingham City Council. 2009-01-22. Archived from the original on June 9, 2008. Retrieved 2009-07-12.
  2. "A history of archaeological research in the Trent Valley". Trent Valley Palaeolithic Project. 2006. Archived from the original on 2010-01-25. Retrieved 2009-07-12.
  3. Hodder, Michael A. (2004). Birmingham: the hidden history. Tempus. pp. 21–23. ISBN 0-7524-3135-8.
  4. Buteux, Simon; Lang, Alex (2003). "Lost but not forgotten: the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic occupation of the West Midlands" (doc). West Midlands Regional Research Framework for Archaeology. University of Birmingham Institute of Archaeology & Antiquity. Retrieved 2009-07-12.
  5. "MONUMENT NO. 1234911". Pastscape - National Monuments Record. English Heritage. 1999. Retrieved 2009-07-12.
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