Core

The term given to the lump of stone from which stone tools are made through the knocking or pressing off of flakes. Cores are normally waste products but some have been found that have been adapted for use as a scraping implement. Cores date to most prehistoric periods but often differ in form due to changes in how tools were made and for what they were being used.

A Lower to Middle Palaeolithic flint core was found at Burnham Beeches and others are known from the county. Mesolithic cores are quite common and have been found at Yewden Sandpit and Oakend Cottage in Gerrards Cross. A Late Neolithic example was discovered at Walton Court but others are more difficult to date precisely.