COLORFUL AND EXCEPTIONAL BRITISH NEOLITHIC FLINT PIERCER TOOL FROM THE FAMOUS BOWL BARROWS OF SOPLEY COMMON IN ENGLAND *N305

Product Description

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This British Late Neolithic flint flake tool was found on an ancient bowl barrows site in Sopley Common, England.  It dates to approximately 2500 B.C..  This flint tool is a Neolithic PIERCER or BORER made of colorful flint that was not typical from the region, likely from flint traded from another geographic area.  A tool such as this would have been used to pierce leather to make clothing or for boring or engraving soft materials such as wood, bone or ivory, to make tools or art objects.  When held to the light, it shows beautiful translucence and was likely a cherished tool to its original Neolithic owner.

The site this artifact was found on is classified as a 'scheduled monument', and is protected from any alteration or excavation.  Collected over 50 years ago before any legislation regulated the site, this flint tool is a desirable addition to a collection that values scarce specimens such as this. 

This flake flint tool is complete with naturally lustrous soil sheen.  Extensive flaking and ancient resharpening on the cutting edges.  Ancient sediment deposits are intact in all hinge fractures and micro-crevices of this specimen - irrefutable evidence of age and authenticity. 

HISTORY

The bowl barrows at Sopley Common in England are protected as a 'scheduled monument'.  In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorized change or excavation.  The protection provided to scheduled monuments is given under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.

A bowl barrow is a type of burial mound or tumulus.  A barrow is a mound of earth used to cover a tomb.  The bowl barrow gets its name from its resemblance to an upturned bowl. Bowl barrows were created from the Neolithic through to the Bronze Age in Great Britain.  A bowl barrow is an approximately hemispherical mound covering one or more inhumations or cremations.  Where the mound is composed entirely of stone, rather than earth, the term cairn replaces the word barrow.  The mound may be simply a mass of earth or stone, or it may be structured by concentric rings of posts, low stone walls, or upright stone slabs. In addition, the mound may have a kerb of stones or wooden posts.

Barrows were usually built in isolation in various situations on plains, valleys and hill slopes, although the most popular sites were those on hilltops.