Coarse stone tools are frequent finds at prehistoric sites in Orkney and Shetland. A whole range of tools was made and used for diverse jobs such as butchering, flint knapping, craft work, agriculture, storage and food processing. These stone assemblages are often large, dominated by particular tool types and are found at many different types of site [...]
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Stone tools and butchering
Skaill knives are simple flake tools made from sandstone cobbles. They are commonly found in middens associated with settlements of the Late Neolithic in Orkney. Wear traces are often visible on these tools indicating that they had been used prior to deposition. Given the perceived ‘softness’ or fragility of the sandstone the question arose as to what exactly these stone flakes had been [...]
– November 2, 2009
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Craft specialisation in the Mesolithic
Recent excavations at sites in Northern Britain have added to the repertoire of coarse stone tools known to have been in use during the Mesolithic. By analysing the distinctive wear traces on all the coarse stone tools from a site and by examining their context of deposition it has been possible to identify areas on site where [...]
– November 2, 2009
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Stone axes from Orkney
Recent excavations in Orkney have almost doubled the number of recorded stone axes. Consequently, a large proportion of these tools, some 64%, come from excavated contexts at settlement or funerary sites dating from the Early to Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. Many different types of stone were chosen for the axes and [...]
– November 2, 2009
