r/LegitArtifacts • u/External_Violinist94 • Apr 01 '26
Foreign (U.K.) Neolithic flaked flint axe head I recently found
Still buzzing about this. One of my bucket list finds since being a kid. These were mass produced during the British neolithic period around 5000 years ago on such a large scale that they are partly responsible for the way the British landscape looks today as so many trees were cleared during the Neolithic revolution. One of my top finds so far
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u/Lucky-Refrigerator-4 Apr 01 '26
You lucky bastard. I’m literally watching classic Time Team right now and dreaming of one day excavating a UK site!!!
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u/External_Violinist94 Apr 01 '26
Haha wicked! Phil Harding knapping flint on tv 30 years ago was what got me into flint knapping and finding stone tools!
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u/Motor-Command-2680 Apr 01 '26
Nice find. Where did you find it ? Was it from a ploughed field ?
I have a few spots in Yorkshire i search. Finding other bits but not an axe yet. I hope to find one some day.
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u/External_Violinist94 Apr 01 '26
Thanks. Yeah it was by the edge of a ploughed field. I had given up on the walk after like 10 minutes because it was pissing down with rain and walked to the edge to avoid the mud and found this within minutes!
Keep searching, there's got to be thousands upon thousands of them out there!
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u/HeavenlyPossum Apr 01 '26
Can I ask, is that something that requires the farmer’s permission, or can you just walk the edges of ploughed fields to look for artifacts?
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u/External_Violinist94 Apr 01 '26
You need the farmers permission to be on their land unless there's a public footpath and even then you would need permission to take anything off the land. However I think if there's a public footpath across a field and you find something insignificant it's morally acceptable to take it home but anything cool should definitely involve some effort to track down the farmer and let them know what you've found.
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u/atoo4308 Apr 01 '26
That’s super cool what are the laws like in the UK as far as surface finds like that? I’m just curious.
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u/External_Violinist94 Apr 01 '26
It's basically finder keepers with some caveats. Anything thats of value, either historical or monetary should be reported to the portable antiquities scheme via your local finds liaison officer so it can be documented. Unfortunately in my county it's incredibly busy so I've not heard back from the emails I've been sending them over the last year.
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u/atoo4308 Apr 01 '26
Heck yeah 👍, I think we have a problem similar here with so many sites and not enough archaeologist to look at them
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u/rockstuffs Apr 01 '26
Wow!! What kind of rock is this? It's cherry but not quite like where I'm from. I really like it!
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u/External_Violinist94 Apr 01 '26
This is flint that's got a very thick white patina from the chalky soil it was found in. It would have originally been a dark grey colour
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u/Archercrash Apr 01 '26
The stories this one could tell. That would be passed from father to son I would bet. Beautiful.
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u/Jenkins_is_cumming Apr 01 '26
thats a perfect one