Description (Labels & Markings)
Old rectangular label with blue border affixed to the object reads: 'ST ACHEUL. AMIENS. 1863. D'.
Event Date
Author: Lucie Carreau

Context (Other owners)
This handaxe bear the distinctive label of Sir John Evans. Ransom was certainly known to Evans, as he is mentioned in letters from his friend Frank Latchmore to Evans (see Ashmolean archive JE/B/2/55), so Ransom may indeed have acquired this object from Evans. However John Evans material came into the museum through a variety of channels, including through Walter K. Foster (see TEMP.00819), so it is also possible that this is not part of the Ransom collection (see Contexts). Therefore William Ransom is tentatively listed in the Source field.
Event Date 11/2/2019
Author: Lucie Carreau

Context (Other)
1923.1074 was entered in the Accession Register as ‘L[ower] Palaeo[lithic] C[oup] de P[oing]s etc. 1 Moust[erian] point’ from France, as part of William Ransom’s collection given by his son Francis. Apart from the Mousterian point, there is no indication of the number of objects associated with 1923.1074, and Ransom is not known to have numbered his collections with a distinguishing label or mark. At an unknown point after 1923 at least one previously accessioned French handaxe (1883.12 A, see also 1888.14.2) was erroneously marked ‘1923.1074’. Other French handaxes marked ‘1923.1074’ certainly came into the museum from other donors – four from G.J.B. Fox (now TEMP.00815-TEMP.00818), one from Walter K. Foster (now TEMP.00819) – but their correct accession number is unknown, if they were ever assigned one. It is therefore clear that not all the objects marked and subsequently given catalogued cards as 1923.1074 were actually part of the Ransom collection, and it is currently impossible to identify which were in the 1923 donation. Although it is unknown why or when this mistake took place, it may relate to the fact that all the material in question is from Palaeolithic France (see also 1925.18).
Event Date 11/2/2019
Author: Lucie Carreau

Description (Physical description)
Flint handaxe.
Event Date 4/2/2019
Author: Lucie Carreau