| Description | Two Lower/Middle Palaeolithic handaxes found at Lee Moor, four miles N. of Wakefield in October, 1889. The axes were given to Wakefield Museum by Dr.J. W. Walker and are still there. The axes were examined by Reginald Smith (Br. Mus.) who published a note on them in The Antiquaries Journal (see sources above). Smith describes one axe as being of `unusual type' with tapering crusted butt and broad cutting edge which has been blunted in use; one of its faces has Acheulian affinities; length of axe 5 inches. The second axe is subtriangular in form with a crusted lateral butt, the edges sharp and fairly straight; it is described by Smith as being of `late Drift type'. Length 3.5 inches. Both axes appear in Roe's `Gazetteer of British Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Sites'. It is very unfortunate that there is no better siting evidence for these axes as they are extremely important finds for West Yorkshire, an area in which, like many others, the maximum limit of the Devensian glaciation is difficult to determine accurately. However, the Calder valley was ice free, except for a tongue of Airedale ice which overflowed into the head of the Spen valley to Oakenshaw, so these handaxes come from that part of W. Yorkshire most likely to produce such remains (Keighley 1981, p.75). Note other Palaeolithic finds from nearby: a series of Palaeolithic blades from Lake Lock (PRN 3812) and a handaxe from Lupset (PRN 3814). No further information. |