Boy finds Neolithic arrowhead at Castle Howard

A 9-year-old participating in an introduction to archeology program turned up what is the oldest artifact yet from the site: an arrowhead some 4000 years old.

Beginner's luck? Who knows -- kids often are more observant than their elders, and it doesn't hurt to start out looking from closer to the ground! Back in 1967, when I was a small boy, my family was touring the Dordogne cave sites. Very different back then, with no tour buses or crowds or plexiglass over the cave paintings. You could also go much further into the caves -- only Lascaux had been closed to the general public at that point. And often it was just a guide with a lantern taking my parents and their three little ones around (one even gave us a few flint tools as a souvenir!). After coming out of one such tour, I started looking at some large rocks outside and spotted a barbed bone harpoon head wedged inside a crack in the rock face. It was just like the ones we had seen at the museum at Les Eyzies. I didn't mention it to anyone. I wonder if it is still there.

Posted by David on August 6, 2003 12:03 PM