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<\/a><\/p>\nThis is a stone axehead, and it\u2019s currently on display in the Great North Museum: Hancock, in the \u201cIce Age to Iron Age\u201d gallery.\u00a0 As far as we know, it was found in Gateshead.\u00a0 According to the person who donated the object, it was\u00a0discovered during the early 1970s.\u00a0 As the story goes, it transpires that a factory workman\u00a0unearthed it while digging a pit in preparation for concrete foundations to be laid in order to install heavy machinery.\u00a0 The axehead was found at a depth of about 3 metres\u2026very near a human skull.<\/p>\n
Whatever happened to the human remains is another tale completely.\u00a0 The axehead eventually found its way into our collections thanks to a generous donor, and that should have been the end of the story.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
By the mid 1990s after some examinations, theories began to emerge that the axehead may have had its origins not in Gateshead, but in Polynesia<\/em>!\u00a0 <\/em>This speculation has garnered serious debate, and an article on the subject was written by J. Pollard in 1998 for Archaeologia Aeliana*<\/span>, the journal of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne (SANT).\u00a0<\/p>\n The puzzle of how a Polynesian axe could be found in the northeast of England as part of a presumed prehistoric burial site can not be solved by this blogger!\u00a0 However, it is fervently hoped that with the creation of the Cutting Edge project other interested enthusiasts both professional and amateur may be able to shed light on mysteries such as these.\u00a0<\/p>\n * J. Pollard, \u201cOddity, Import or Ethnographic Curiosity? A Stone Axe from Gateshead\u201d, Archaeologia Aeliana, 5th<\/sup> Series, Vol XXVI, pg 165-6<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While it\u2019s commonly assumed that the experts who work in museums and universities know absolutely everything, this (unfortunately!) is not always the case.\u00a0 While researching some of the objects that we want to profile in the Cutting Edge project, a … Continue reading