The hand-axe from Drouwen (Province of Drente, the Netherlands) and the upper Acheulian

Abstract

(p. 141)

This article describes the hand-axe from Drouwen, found in March 1978. The site where the find was made lies in the village of Drouwen, ca. 2 km to the west of where the Voorste Diep enters the Hunze valley. In view of the natural surface modifications present on the hand-axe (brown patina, wind gloss, small pits, scratches, pressure cones, cryoturbation retouch, rounded ridges and secondary frost-splitting), it must have come from out of the boulder-sand (outwash residue of the ground moraine from the penultimate glacial). Geologically this indicates the foliowing dating for the hand-axe: the end of the Saalian, the Eemian or the first half of the Weichselian. It is probable, however, that the boulder-sand was formed mainly during the last glacial. As a result of the secondary frost-splitting, considerable parts of the surface of the hand-axe, as well as the base, have disappeared. The original shape of the hand-axe can be reconstructed as a large (l. ca. 15 cm) symmetrical cordiforme allongé, with possibly a cutting base.

In the course of an excavation at the site no additional finds were made, so it is fairly probable that the hand-axe represents an isolated find at this spot. The point of the hand-axe was broken off long ago, possibly as the result of use. Typologically the hand-axe falls within the Acheuléen Supérieur of the French authors, or the Jungacheuléen of Bosinski. There is some slight evidence to suggest that the hand-axe could date from a younger phase within this tradition. In this connection various finds from elsewhere are discussed finally, in a preliminary attempt to establish more clearly the positionof the scarce Middle Paleolithic material from the Northern Netherlands.