Today’s image is of a late Neolithic polished flint axe found during fieldwalking at Woodchurch, Birchington in 2011.

This polished axe may originally have been intended as a status symbol or for ceremonial purposes and it would have taken many hours of polishing to achieve the beautifully smooth surface. On being broken, the ends have been reworked to become a useful hand tool.

Other examples of polished axes found on Thanet can be seen in the Neolithic gallery of the Virtual Musuem.