NHER 5798 (Find Spot record) - Unprovenanced Palaeolithic worked flints, Thetford area (Thetford, poorly located)

Various Palaeolithic worked flints known to have been recovered from the Thetford area during the later 19th and early 20th centuries but with little additional information regarding provenance. It is likely that the majority of these finds were recovered from the sites that are known to have produced Palaeolithic material around this time, such as the various quarries that were open along the banks of the Little Ouse river. It is, for example, highly probable that a significant proportion of this material was recovered from the exceptionally productive Red Hill site on Abbey Heath, to the north-west of Thetford town (NHER 5795).

FINDS IN MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

Unprovenanced Palaeolithic material from Thetford is known to exist in the collections of museums across the country. The file for this record contains a list of locations for these finds and a list of relevant references; these taken from (S1). This information should however be treated with caution as the list is likely to include some material from named sites that is recorded elsewhere.

Roe's gazetteer (S2) lists the following finds as being from Thetford but otherwise unprovenanced:
94+ handaxes
3 handaxe roughouts/unfinished handaxes
6 retouched flakes/flake implements
5 unretouched flakes
This material is recorded as being held by the Avebury Museum, the Birmingham City Museum, the British Museum (including material in the Natural History Collections), the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the Sedgewick Museum (Cambridge), the Norwich Castle Museum, the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford), the Oxford University Museum, the Blackmore Museum in Salisbury and the Sheffield Museum. According to (S1) material from Thetford is (or was at this time) also held by the Ipswich Museum, the Moyse's Hall Museum (Bury St Edmunds), the Museum of the Scottish Society of Antiquaries in Edinburgh, the Thetford Corporation Museum, the Spalding Museum (material previously in the A. C. Savin collection) and the Yarmouth Museum. The Moyse's Hall Museum and the Edinburgh museum are also listed by (S4) as holding material from the Red Hill/White Hill sites, so it is possible that these do not actually hold unprovenanced material from Thetford.

Norwich Castle Museum:
A significant proportion of the unprovenanced Palaeolithic material from Thetford is held by the NCM. These include:
23 probable handaxes in the Robert Fitch Collection (NWHCM : 1894.76.975-994 : A). Many of the finds in the Fitch Collection were probably amongst the finds that he exhibited at a meeting of the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society in 1866, which were described as "…a large number of flint implements from the drift, recently found in Thetford, some taken out of the soil by himself" (S3). It is seems likely that these finds were from Red Hill (NHER 5795), or one of the other quarry sites known to have been open along this part of the Little Ouse valley at this time. This suggestion is supported by the fact that (S3) is listed as a reference in relation to the Red Hill and White Hill sites in (S4). W. G. Clarke also notes in (S8) that the Fitch Collection includes "…a splendid series of Palaeolithic implements from the river-gravel at Thetford…". Although only described as flint implements in the NCM records, most are probably handaxes and amongst the implements listed on (S1) as "15 Group I, 7 Group III and 2 Group II" handaxes.

Other unprovenanced Palaeolithic objects in the NCM include:
1 Palaeolithic "worked flint". Found at Thetford in 1866 (NWHCM : 1983.362.10).
3 "Palaeoliths" found at Thetford in the 1890s. Transferred from the Worthing Museum and Art Gallery (NWHCM : 1962.52).

Roe (S2) also notes that the NCM holds eighteen implements known to have come from "Thetford and Snarehill, Rushford". This is likely to be a reference to a number of Palaeolithic implements in the T. H. Russell Collection (NWHCM : 1939.146). These finds are discussed under NHER 5953, which details the unprovenanced Palaeolithic material from the Snarehill/Rushford area of Brettenham parish.

Thetford Museum:
The Thetford Museum holds 3 Palaeolithic handaxes that are recorded as having been found somewhere in the Thetford area (THEHM : 1977.162.1-3). These are believed to have been found during the 1920s and may well have come from the Waterworks Pit on Mundford Road (NHER 59573), where at least one other handaxe was recovered around this time.

Yarmouth Museum:
According to (S1) the 'Yarmouth Museum' held an object described as a 'pick'. Its present location is unknown.

British Museum:
The British Museum hold a significant number of unprovenanced object from Thetford, these spread across several collections:
14 handaxes and 5 flakes. Christy Collection (2011,8059.90-2011,8059.93).
6 handaxe and 1 flake. Sturge Collection (2011,8109.765).
6 handaxes, 1 "flake tool" and 1 flake. W. G. Smith Collection (2011,8107.117).
1 handaxe. Ex Flower (1937,0405.1).
1 handaxe. Wellcome Collection (1982,1004.12).
3 flakes. Ex Jennings (1912,1008.4,22-23).
1 core. Ex Smith (1903,0509.3)
The majority of these collections are listed on (S1).

The nature and present location of the material previously within the British Museum Natural History collections is unclear. As noted above this material was listed in (S2) as unprovenanced. However, Wymer notes that this collection (which is ex Lady Prestwich, 1896) was probably all from Red Hill (NHER 5795). Apparently some implements are marked "Red Hill" and others "Thetford", but "…there can be little doubt that it is a collection all made at one time and apparently from one place" (S6).

There is however one object in the British Museum's Natural History collections that is an apparent anomaly. This is a handaxe described in (S11) as a "classic sub-triangular bout coupé - a form typically associated with Late Middle Palaeolithic Neanderthal activity. Wymer also regarded this handaxe as anomalous and unlikely to have the same provenance as the other objects in this collection. It is described in (S6) as a flat-butted cordate handaxe (Wymer Type N) that is in a sharp condition notable different from that of the probable Red Hill implements. This handaxe is listed as a probable 'true' bout coupé in (S12) and is also listed as such in (S13).

Pitt Rivers Museum (Oxford):
The Pitt Rivers Museum holds a number of Palaeolithic objects from Thetford that were found during the late 19th century. These are split between the founding collection and a collection that had previously been in the possession of J. W. Flower. It is clear from (S2) and (S6) that both Roe and Wymer regarded the material in the Pitt Rivers Museum as being from Red Hill (NHER 5795). However, only two objects are listed in the museum's records as being from Red Hill and the provenance of the other implements must therefore be seen as less certain (although it remains likely that they were indeed from Red Hill). These include:
5 handaxes (1892.67). Ex J. W. Flower. Several marked as having been found between 1866 and 1868.
5 handaxes, 1 core, 2 flakes and 3 ?Levallois flakes. Founding collection (1884.122). Several marked as having been found between 1866 and 1871.

Salisbury Museum:
It is unclear exactly how many objects from Thetford are held by the Salisbury Museum, although (S7) makes reference to a case containing at least 20 artefacts from Thetford. One is described as being from White Hill (NHER 5796) but no further information on the provenance of the others is given.

Spalding Museum:
It is noted on (S1) that the ex. A. C. Savin finds in this museum are two 'Acheulian' handaxes (Coll. Nos 57 and 127).

Birmingham City Museum:
It is noted in (S1) that the Birmingham City Museum holds a single 'Group I' handaxe from Thetford (6.29).

Hereford City Museum:
According to (S5) the Hereford City Museum holds a Palaeolithic 'hammerstone' from Thetford (Her 1287).
Previously recorded as NHER 39478.

Lapworth Museum of Geology (Birmingham):
According to (S5) this museum holds 3 handaxes from Thetford.
Previously recorded as NHER 39484.

These various finds are also noted in (S9) and (S10), although little additional information is given.

P. Watkins (HES), 27 June 2013.