The hand–axe found at Magdalen Street, Exeter

This flint hand-axe, heavily stained by thousands of years of burial in gravel, is the most ancient artefact known within the city boundary. Such tools belong to the Lower Palaeolithic period; it is likely to date to about 250,000 years ago. The find was stratified in the river gravel which underlies much of central Exeter.

Acknowledgments: © 2015 Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, Exeter City Council