York Historic Environment Record

A group of Neolithic flint tools and weapons was found in York in 1868. The group was discovered during the construction of the North East Railway gasworks in 1868. The assemblage consists of axes, one of which is a polished greenstone and at least six more are polished flint. With these axes were found three arrowheads, nine ovoid spearheads, three scrapers, eleven blades and flakes and two worked points, all of flint. RCHME rport that "at least forty-three implements were found in a compact group deep in the gravel terrace near the junction of Holgate Beck and the Ouse. The regular, sharp flakes and blades, and unused appearence of the finished blades suggests a merchant's hoard, whilst the inclusion of a barb and tang arrowhead could imply a late Neolithic-early Bronze Age context". The History of York website (http://www.historyofyork.org.uk/timeline/prehistory/the-york-hoard) states that the assemblage consists of "over 70 Neolithic flint tools and weapons ".