This polished flint axe was discovered at Durrington in 1950. Dating to the Neolithic period, this flint was likely extracted from the chalk at one of the flint mine sites north of Worthing, such as Cissbury. After being roughly shaped by a skilled flint knapper at the mining site, the axe would have been ground or polished elsewhere, using a polishing block, sand and water. This process could take up to 72 hours, and produced a sharper cutting edge, as well as increasing the aesthetic value of the tool within Neolithic society.

Reimagining Worthing Museum: £5 donation

Worthing Museum has hundreds, if not  thousands of incredible flint objects in our  collection - just like this Neolithic polished flint axe from c.4,000 BC, found in Durrington  in 1950. This one, like most of our flints, can’t be displayed at the moment due to lack of suitable cases and display materials. Your donation will ensure we can share many more of these incredible, ancient flints with our community.