01/09/2026
If archaeologists were around in the Neolithic, our tool kit might look something like this!🛠️
Flint tools are one of our most common finds on site at Banbury and whilst they may sometimes look unassuming, they provide us with a story about local heritage spanning thousands of years!
The Neolithic is dated to 4000-2500 BCE, and is the earliest period we currently have evidence for at Banbury. Back then, most tools were made from stone which is where we get the term “Stone Age” from.
Excavating flint can be quite tricky for archaeologists as we often find both worked (pieces crafted into tools) and non-worked (natural pieces of flint) pieces around site. Luckily there is one big characteristic we can check for to determine whether we have actually found an ancient tool or just a normal rock!
Rippled patterns are always found on the surface of tools because they were created through the process of “flint knapping.” This is when flakes are chipped off from a larger “core” stone and then shaped into the form of a tool. These ripples are then created as markings from the impact.
We have evidence for so many different types of tools and all were specially crafted for specific uses! The most common are knives, but there are also scrapers for processing animal hides and meat, and grinders for grinding ingredients for food or even pigments for paint! The possibilities were endless!
Below we have examples of a flake, flintette, and scraper from Banbury. Do you have any ideas what they might have been used for all those millennia ago? Let us know in the comments!
MOLA is carrying out excavations at Banbury on behalf of David Wilson Homes.
