Late Neolithic Flint Dagger found at Little Thetford, 29-04-2010. Attributed to the Beaker Period 1900 BC to 1500BC.

The Beaker People reached England from the coast of Brittany and the reigon of the Lower Rhine around 1900 BC and were the first users of metal tools in this country which they brought with them from Europe. Bronze technology was then in its infancy in Middle Europe and was scarce and expensive and the use of flint carried on and developed right through the Bronze age and into the Iron Age. The development of finely worked and polished knives and axes is thought to be an attempt to mimic the style and look of the early bronze tools which the Beaker people would have seen but few would have posessed. The fact that imported honey coloured flint has been used and not the local black flint lends weight to this theory.

The Beaker People were named after their finely worked pottery which along with flint tools were sometimes found  in  their round barrow graves. The polished flint axe which is also pictured on the little thetford website is of a similar material and almost certainly from the same period. It is a rare privilage to be the first person in nearly four thousand years to handle such beautifuly worked flints. Both were found on the surface and it is hardly believable that they have not suffered damage from cultivation.

John Parish.

Beaker Flint Dagger

Beaker Flint Dagger