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  • Neolithic stone adze © NMAG

    Neolithic Adze

    With the start of Neolithic farming came new stone tools. This adze is of a type and stone more commonly found in Denmark.

    Neolithic 4,100 - 2,500 BCE Geologic to Prehistoric

  • Mesolithic flint blade or microlith © NMAG

    Mesolithic Flint Microlith

    Flint microlith - small stone tool made and used by nomadic hunters gatherers living in the Nene Valley during the Middle Stone Age.

    Mesolithic c. 9600 - 4000 BCE Geologic to Prehistoric

  • Shoemaker's wood and leather work bench © NMAG

    Shoemaker's Bench

    This shoemaker's bench is evidence of the shoemaking trade before mechanisation aand factory manufacture when solitary shoemakers mostly worked in small workshops in their home.

    Victorian 1860 - 90 Modern

  • Neolithic flint axe  found in Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire © NMAG

    Thorpe (Neolithic) Axe

    The Thorpe axe, named after the finder of the Axe in the inter-war years, is a large neolithic flint axe found in Higham Ferrers.

    Neolithic 4,100 - 2,500 BCE Geologic to Prehistoric

  • Iron Age socketed axe made from cast iron © NMAG

    Iron Age Axe Head

    A socketed axe made by casting iron in a mould. It probably reflects the transition from bronze to iron metalworking in the early Iron Age.

    Iron Age 800 - 43 CE Geologic to Prehistoric

  • Iron Age reaping hook - iron blade with bone handle © NMAG

    Iron Age Reaping Hook

    A well preserved reaping hook, on one hand an everyday farming implement, on the other a symbol of prehistoric farming.

    Iron Age 300-150 BCE Geologic to Prehistoric

  • Reindeer antler or Lyngby axe from Earls Barton, Northamptonshire © The Trustees of the British Museum

    Palaeolithic Lyngby Axe

    The only example of a Lyngby axe found in Britain, this multi-purpose tool was used by people in the Upper Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age).

    Upper Palaeolithic c. 10,000 years ago Geologic to Prehistoric

  • Flint dagger from Bronze Age barrow at Stanwick Lakes. © NMAG

    Bronze Age Flint Dagger

    This flint dagger was found in a male burial in a barrow along with other grave goods. It had never been used so may have been an ornamental or ritual piece.

    Early Bronze Age 3300 - 2100 BCE Geologic to Prehistoric

  • Bronze Age hoard © NMAG

    Bronze Age Hoard

    A collection of Bronze Age damaged or worn bronze objects including axe heads, sword framents and other bronze pieces found together buried in a hoard.

    Bronze Age 3300 - 1200 BCE Geologic to Prehistoric

  • Roman lucet from Orton Waterville (formerly part of Northamptonshire and Soke of Peterborough) © Peterborough Museum

    Roman Lucet

    A lucet was used to make braids and cords. Found at a Roman military site this is the earliest example found in Britain or Europe.

    Roman 45 - 65 CE Roman and Early Medieval

  • Iron Age quern stones - top and bottom stones from Hunsbury Hillfort © NMAG

    Iron Age Rotary Quern

    Rotary quern made from millstone grit used to grind cereals into flour. More than 100 were found at the Iron Age hillfort at Hunsbury Hill.

    Iron Age c. 200 BCE Geologic to Prehistoric