An unprecedented number of rotary querns were found during excavation of Medieval and Post-medieval buildings at Cromarty.
The forty querns are broadly similar in size and style. The upper stones are flat disc querns, made by dressing a slab of sedimentary rock, or occasionally a schist slab, on the upper and lower faces. The upper stone was driven with a handle slotted into an upright stick hole. The metal frame for the spindle usually sat in a single pair of rhind slots, though a few, more complex variations are present. On some querns the stick hole has worn through the base showing the attrition of the quern arising from heavy use.
Four base quern stones were found, all made from a schist or granite and they have a socket in which the spindle sat, but which did not go through to the base. This essentially means that the spindle was not pushed upwards from the base to lift the upper quern stone, but that a washer-type system was used which made altered the gap between the upper and lower stones.
Upper stone showing two stick holes
The base of this quern shows how the stick holes wear through with heavy use
The rhind slots on the base of this quern are complex
Upper stone
Many of the querns were found as fragments, but some have been left complete and repositioned in highly visible places where they were used in hearths, floors and walls. The final close analysis of the phasing and context of these querns will be an important contribution to the understanding of how social space was created in Medieval times.
An unusual assemblage of 148 flat stone discs was recovered during excavations at Cromarty Medieval Burgh http://www.medievalcromarty.org/ Many were found in middens and shell middens dating to the 13th and 14th Centuries.
Stone discs from Medieval Cromarty. Photo by Ann Clarke
The discs were quickly made by selecting whole or split cobbles and then flaking them coarsely around the perimeter to form a roughly circular outline. The intention seems to have been to produce a sub-polygonal to sub-circular disc with a flat cross-section. They range in size from 20mm to 120mm in diameter but there are distinct concentrations around 60mm and 80mm.
Were they used as stoppers for vessels such as pottery jars or perhaps baskets? Could they be net weights? The quantity of discs is unusual at Medieval Scottish/British sites and suggests they may be linked to some sort of on-site processing/storage activity.
Anvils/Crushers from Medieval Cromarty. Photo by Ann Clarke
Some of the discs were thicker and heavier than the rest and appeared to have traces of pecking on one face. Perhaps they were used as anvils or to crush material.
Does anyone know of similar assemblages in Europe? If you do then I’d love to hear from you using the contact details through my website.
Recent excavations at Crieff, Perthshire by CFA-Archaeology Ltd have revealed a Bronze Age funerary complex. A circular cemetery was identified from a cluster of cists, pits, post holes and cremation deposits whilst some 15m to the south there was a separate group of cremation pits and inverted Cordoned Urn burials.
Beautiful and unusual stone objects formed part of the funerary ritual including groups of barbed-and-tanged arrowheads, a perforated stone pendant and stone tools.
A group of seven barbed-and-tanged arrowheads from Cremation Pit 10, Broich Road, Crieff. Photo by Woody Musgrove
A group of seven barbed-and-tanged arrowheads were placed on the cremated bone deposits interred in a large pit in the southern group of features. These arrowheads are in a particular style – based on the use of the Kilmarnock arrowhead template as defined by Stephen Green. However, there is clear variation within this group in terms of flint colour, size, shaping technique and finished shape which may indicate that at least two or maybe three persons contributed to their manufacture.
A group of three barbed-and-tanged arrowheads from Cist 5, Broich Road, Crieff. Photo by Ann Clarke
Another group of three barbed-and-tanged arrowheads of burnt flint was found amongst the cremated remains placed in a Cist from the circular cemetery. The finest arrowhead is narrow and elongated in form and is most similar to Green’s Sutton C type whilst the other two arrowheads are smaller but too heavily damaged from burning to classify.
Are these arrowheads a representation of a hunting kit, not owned by the deceased but made especially for the cremation ritual? Joanna Bruck has commented on the role of artefacts which accompany Early Bronze Age funeral ritual and proposes that they should be viewed as gifts from the mourners representing the character of the inter-personal relationships between them and the deceased. The multiple authorship of the arrowheads from Broich might indicate a small group of people contributing their personally-made gifts to the deceased.
Stone pendant found within a Cordoned Urn, Broich Rd, Crieff. Photo by Ann Clarke
What should we make of this stone pendant found within an inverted Cordoned Urn? This slender, finely-shaped object has been ground all over to form smooth, slightly curved ends, sides and faces with additional grinding down the four long edges to produce distinctive bevels. The perforation is made at one end by twisting or drilling to form a biconical hole. There is subsequent wear around the perforation which is complex and comprises a distinctive reshaping of the outer edge at either end of the perforation and on both faces. Just how this wear pattern was produced is not known; it could not be the product of the pendant simply dangling from a cord as the lower edge is also worn. A possible scenario is for a loop of cord or thin leather to have been pushed through the perforation and then held in place, perhaps with a toggle placed across the width of the pendant. The stone object could then have slid up and down the cord, either deliberately or incidentally through body movement thereby forming the friction-induced wear pattern observed on the pendant.
Cobble tool with ground facet from Cremation 10, Broich Rd, Crieff. Photo Woody Musgrove.
Stone tools were also found amongst the deposits in the same cremation pit as the group of seven barbed-and-tanged arrowheads.
A cobble with a fine ground facet on one end may have been used to crush the cremated bone.
Stone tool with a ground, faceted side from Cremation 10, Broich Rd, Crieff. Photo by Woody Musgrove.
On this flat cobble two distinctive linear facets have been worn down one side; these are smooth through use as a possible whetstone and they form distinct ridges.
Other flint and stone artefacts were found and a full excavation report will be published soon. In the meantime a lecture on the findings from the cemetery at Broich Road, Crieff was given by Dr Mel Johnson of CFA-Archaeology Ltd to the Archaeological Research in Progress conference 2015. This has been made available online through Archaeology Scotland http://www.archaeologyscotland.org.uk/news/arp-conference-great-success-talks-available-watch
Work is underway looking at the stone tool assemblages from the Neolithic site at Ness of Brodgar, Orkney. As well as a large number of flaked lithics there is a substantial assemblage of larger stone tools including axes, maceheads, ground stone spatulate tools, cobble tools, Skaill knives, stone discs and a wide range of grinding stones and polissoirs.
This stone disc showed its true colours during a gentle wash to remove some mud. As it glistened in the light fine scratches became visible. The lines are faint and it was difficult to catch a clear image as the raked light also caught the natural roughness of the stone’s surface.
One face had been incised with a pair of opposed triangles – the distinctive ‘Brodgar butterfly’ design. A closer look reveals other fine lines forming triangles.
The stone disc is made from a thin piece of flagstone which has been flaked around the perimeter to shape the disc.
Stone discs are common finds on prehistoric sites in Orkney and they come in a wide range of sizes from 5cm to 30cm in diameter.
The ‘Brodgar butterfly’ is revealed.
A close look shows more incisions and triangles.
The Ness of Brodgar is rich in decorated stonework and it is particularly found on structural stones within the buildings. Antonia Thomas is currently researching the dressed and decorated stone from Ness of Brodgar as part of her PhD at Orkney College and you can find more about her work in the September/October 2014 issue of British Archaeology.
The study of the stone artefact assemblages is being carried out by Mark Edmonds, Hugo Anderson-Whymark and Ann Clarke as part of a larger Leverhulme funded research project – Working stone; making communities – based at the University of York.
Ochre showing striations running the length of the piece. Stainton, Cumbria.
This ochre has been gouged in the centre with a sharp point to extract ochre. Stainton, Cumbria.
This piece of ochre has bands of striations across the worked face. PPCM, Musselburgh.
Close-up of banded striations. PPCM, Musselburgh.
The white substance attached to the ochre is kaolin. Stainton, Cumbria.
More kaolin identified adhering to ochre. Stainton, Cumbria.
Ochre is a mixture of fine clay and iron oxide and it often occurs in conjunction with iron ores such as haematite. Though it occurs at many prehistoric sites in Britain it is usually present in only small numbers. Recent excavations by Oxford Archaeology North at the Late Mesolithic site of Stainton, Cumbria has uncovered a very large assemblage of 582 pieces of ochre. This included 47 pieces with traces of working and several others with residue adhering to the surface.
The wear traces are visible as striations, gouge marks, grooves and worn faces and combinations of these various wear traces often occurred together on the larger or complete pieces. Only a few pieces of ochre appear to have been used for sustained rubbing – enough at least to alter the profile of the lump significantly. The heaviest wear traces were made by gouging and the marks were formed by pushing a sharp point into the centre of the ochre face.
A few pieces had a white substance adhering to the surface and SEM analysis by Karen Hardy, ICREA, Barcelona University has shown it to be an aluminium silicate, most likely kaolin.
There are many uses ascribed to ochre though few if any can be directly identified at archaeological sites. Ochre is a strongly coloured red or orange pigment which can be rubbed on to an object in order to colour it. It can be used either dry or wet but when a lump of ochre or haematite is rubbed with water the colour is released very easily as a red viscous liquid reminiscent of blood and which can be applied like paint (Isbister 2000). As well as a decorative application ochre can also be used in the preparation of hides (ibid) and Hodgkiss (2010) notes that high iron content preserves leather. Isbister records many ethnographic applications of ochre in medicine and healing (Isbister 2000, 2009). Kaolin also has many and varied uses and in ways similar to or complementary with ochre. These materials were clearly used together at Stainton as demonstrated by the fragments of ochre with kaolin adhering to them but without supporting residue evidence from other materials it would be futile to speculate on their exact uses.
The assemblage of ochre from Stainton is the largest and most informative yet from an excavated Mesolithic site in Britain and the distinctive range of wear traces demonstrates that ochre (and kaolin) was used in a variety of ways and most likely for different jobs. The large size of the assemblage together with the range of uses could indicate that craft, manufacturing and processing activities at this site were carried out in an intensive way; perhaps highly organised into specialised areas for e.g. hafting and hide working.
