Palaeolithic Cleaver
Object
Flint tool
Production date
328000 bc - 300000 bc
Object number
1991.681
Physical Description
Flint, square, 3 cutting edges.
Object history
This type of stone tool is called a cleaver. They are similar to handaxes, but instead of a pointed tip they have a flat cutting edge. They were probably used as a butchering instrument, in particular breaking bones.
Cleavers are very typical of the technology made by Neanderthals between 301,000 - 328,000 years ago (a warm period called MIS-9), the time from when the Old Stone Age artefacts discovered in Hackney date to.
Cleavers are very typical of the technology made by Neanderthals between 301,000 - 328,000 years ago (a warm period called MIS-9), the time from when the Old Stone Age artefacts discovered in Hackney date to.
Associated Person
Joseph Exhall Greenhill (Archaeologist)
Material
Stone
Dimension
Width: 9cm
Height: 11cm
Depth: 4.5cm
Height: 11cm
Depth: 4.5cm
On display?
No