Neolithic, 3000-2000 BC. A bifacial hooked halberd blade, in a dark grey-brown transluscent flint, the curved edges carefully shaped, with some possibly later retouching resulting in a notch to the concave edge. 62 grams, 13cm (5"). Property of a gentleman, by descent from the vendor's father, who formed his collection in the 1990s; found County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, UK, in 1952. Cf. O'Riordain, The Halberd in Bronze Age Europe, (Archaeologia 86), fig. 40, for other Irish examples. Similar blades in flint for transverse hafting are rare finds; it is suggested that they were more for ceremonial than practical use due to their fragility; there is also a suggestion that the well known Bronze Age halberd blades evolved from flint originals (cf. Schuhmacher, Thomas X., Some Remarks on the Origin and Chronology of Halberds in Europe, Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 21(3), pp. 263-288 for discussion; printout offered with this lot) and Ireland seems to have been the likely origin of the general bronze type, from circa 2300 BC.

Very fine condition. Extremely rare.