3 ways to identify a prehistoric flint tool

You spy the grey-black gleam of flint in a muddy field and hook out a chiselled stone. But was it formed by frost, scraped by a farmer’s plough or knapped by skilled Stone Age hands?

There is no greater thrill than to find and hold in your hand something which was made by a fellow human 6000 years ago. Worked flint has several identifying features, and some, all or just one of these may be visible. The vast majority of worked flint is waste material from the manufacture of a tool. Identifying it is relatively easy once you know what to look for:

1 Striking platform

This is a flat area at the top of a flint flake. A nodule of flint will be struck with another stone, known as a hard hammer, to make a flat area, this is the platform. Its presence on a piece of flint is a sure sign of a human hand.

2 Bulb of percussion

There will be a bulb (swelling) in the flint touching the platform with scars or small fractures. These features indicate that the platform was prepared, then struck deliberately to separate it from the main body of flint or core. Often when a tool is made, the platform is removed.

3 Retouch

Retouch is the modification of the edge of a flint flake. Small removals of flint will line up touching each other, usually all of the same size and normally on one side of the item. Retouch can occur all over one side of a flake and even on both sides, arrow heads being a good example.  Read up: Prehistoric Flintwork by Chris Butler Still not sure? Bring your find to a local museum. Flint artefacts from the Medway Megaliths can be seen at Maidstone Museum (free entry; museum.maidstone.gov.uk)