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Kettering boy's Bronze Age discovery
A youngster with a passion for discovering fossils is celebrating after finding an arrowhead thought to be more than 2,000 years old.
The item, which dates from the late Neolithic early Bronze Age period, was found by Joseph Parker.
The eight-year-old found the arrowhead in a gravel path at Northamptonshire Grammar School in Pitsford where his father works.
After finding the arrowhead, Joseph took it home before going with his parents to Kettering museum where it was identified by the Portable Antiquities Scheme.
Joseph, of Hawthorn Road, Kettering, said: "I knew it was an arrowhead when I found it but I had no idea how old it was. It was just on top of the gravel and I saw it there.
"I took it to the museum and they told me how old it is which is amazing.
"I like collecting and have a collection of fossils."
The arrowhead is made out of light grey flint and is described as an 'elongated barbed-and-tanged arrow head'.
Finds liaison officer for the Portable Antiquities Scheme, Julie Cassidy, said: "Used as arrowheads for hunting, they are likely to have been made on a small-scale for personal use, rather than a large-scale production industry.
"They are quite often found in graves, suggesting that they also had a largely symbolic quality."
When the arrowhead was returned Joseph took it into school where it was shown to classmates during an assembly.
His mum, Lynda Parker, of Hawthorn Road, said: "He loves history and is always on the lookout for new fossils and items.
"He's got a big box with different fossils and flints in.
"The teachers at Hawthorn Primary School were all very interested to have a look at the arrowhead."
Museums across the region hold regular drop in sessions with the Portable Antiquities Scheme to help identify items people have found.
For more information about the group visit its website at www.finds.org.uk.
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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