Neolithic Flint Axe Head

Nicola Currie, regional director of the Country Land and Business Association, was a guest on BBC Radio Suffolk and brought in a much treasured object found in a field.

"The flint axe was the Swiss Army knife of its time. We know from research work that the part of the human brain which enables us to create such a tool is the same part responsible for forming speech sounds. So the mind which can shape an axe can shape a sentence; it's the begining of speech as we know it!

"This was found in Hitcham, Suffolk, in 2003 by my son as he was picking potatoes on a local village farm.

"It's a fascinating link with our past, it's beautifully balanced and a pleasure to hold in your hand. It's really hard to get your mind around the fact that the person who owned this lived so long ago. They must have been really cross to have lost it."

The last of 100 objects being featured on BBC Radio 4 is yet to be chosen.

"For the British Museum's 100th object, I would suggest a carbon calculator, such as the one at www.cla.org.uk/CALM, to help manage greenhouse gas emissions as climate change is the challenge of our age."