Prehistoric Lithic Collections from Yorkshire: Appleyard, Feather, Hardisty, Heys, Waterhouse and Woodward
Keith Boughey, 2020. https://doi.org/10.5284/1063205. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © Keith Boughey unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 3520
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1063205
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
Flint collecting has been carried out by many individuals and is possibly one of the easiest types of 'archaeology' there is, involving many hours of patient work, occasionally excavation but more often than not searching systematically over large areas for essentially surface finds, something flint collectors eventually become very good at it. The problem is that many of these people carry on their activities as a private hobby, with little if any thought given to the wider consequences of what they are doing. At its worst, such collecting can amount to little better than looting, stripping an area of its archaeological evidence, but at best - if a proper record is kept - they represent a wealth of hitherto unknown evidence of the sorts of human activity which took place in the area during the prehistoric period.
The present compiler has made it his mission wherever possible to locate such private collections and secure them for the archaeological record by one means or another - whether it be the compilation of databases, maps and photographs or by securing their transfer to a safe place of curation, such as a museum or similar. The compiler is determined that what matters is that this material is brought fully into the wider archaeological domain and - above all - published so that what has been found is accessible to all, enriching our experience of the past.
The deposition of this archive was funded by the Yorkshire Archaeological & Historical Society and the Open Access Archaeology Fund.
