AN ARCHAEOLOGIST has been shedding new light on Stone Age artefacts at Kendal Museum.

Edd Baxter, 34, has created a digital catalogue of prehistoric stone tools - including a Langdale axe - at the attraction on Station Road.

The Morecambe student, who describes himself as having "a passion for pre-history", joined the Museum and Gallery Skills course at the museum last year.

It was while cleaning up a store cupboard filled with curiosities such as stuffed animals, prehistoric stone tools, mineral samples and Roman pottery that Edd came across many items of interest which were not on display because they have "little or no provenance", as curator Carol Davies explained. They included a polished Langdale axe and a butt-knapped leaf-shaped arrowhead.

Edd set about cataloguing the prehistoric stone tool, at the suggestion of the museum's curator, and he created a digital catalogue with close-up photography by digital imaging scientist George Platt. When the Langdale axe was viewed through a state-of-the-art camera, its surface resembled "a miniature solar system or a prehistoric night sky", said Edd.

The online catalogue has been designed for ease of use by primary school children and teachers visiting the museum, and can also be accessed by academics and members of the public.

Edd is now hoping to get funding to create a larger digital catalogue of tools for Kendal Museum, and also to take the project to other museums with "unloved collections".

He plans to pursue his chosen career of museum curatorship by taking a Masters at Orkney College and to continue his bid to see every one of the 750-or-so stone circles around the British Isles; so far he has notched up 266.