Ann – Page 5 – Ann Clarke

Tool Storage

All photographs courtesy of Cardiff University

Careful recording of the finds from excavations at Mound 1, Bornais, S Uist has given some indication of how the stone tools were used and stored during the occupation of this Iron Age roundhouse. Many of the stone tools were clearly deposited in groups; three discrete groups formed tight concentrations of 50cm to 60cm in diameter and were found against the surviving structures and the other groupings were more spread suggesting that they had been subject to post-depositional disturbance.

Particular combinations of tool types such as pounder/grinders – faceted cobbles (groups A and B) and smoothers – polishers (group C) were a feature of some groups whilst others were exclusively of pounder/ grinders (group E), faceted cobbles (group F) or strike-a-lights (Group D).

The clustering of the tools indicates that they were stored: perhaps they were originally hung in bags from the rafters and lay where they fell after the roof had burnt down; alternatively they could have been stored in bags or baskets set on the floor and tucked against the house wall.

For more information about excavations at Bornais go to www.cf.ac.uk/hisar/archaeology/reports/hebrides99 and Niall Sharples, 2012 A Late Iron Age Farmstead in the Outer Hebrides. Excavations at Mound 1, Bornais, South Uist. Oxford.

Rotary Querns and Stone Weights

Rotary querns and stone weights were the most common finds at the excavation of an Iron Age homestead at Black Spout, Perth and Kinross. They were all made from the locally available garnetiferous schist. For more information go to www.pkht.org.uk/Projects/Black-Spout-Homestead-Pitlochry/

Stone tools from Orkney and Shetland

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 including both funerary and domestic settings.

Recent research into the contexts of these various tools from sites across the Northern Isles has demonstrated aspects of continuity and change within and between assemblages. This variability within the artefactual record can be interpreted at broader level in order to assess the social implications which these patterns may represent.

You can read more at:

Clarke, A 2006 Stone tools and the Prehistory of the Northern Isles British Archaeological Report, 406.

The small, finger-like tools (left) have been shaped by grinding. The larger multi-hollowed cobbles (right) are an unusual tool form.

These tools exhibit grinding on one face – they were most likely used to process or shape other materials.

Found at Bronze Age sites, these flaked cobbles may have been used as heavy duty choppers.

These unusual stone objects are found at Bronze Age structures in Shetland. They may have been used in the tethering of animals in byres.

These unusual tools have a distinctive carefully-shaped handle . They were in use in the Early Bronze Age of Orkney and Shetland.

These have been shaped from the local shale to form a hatchet or cleaver-like head with a handle.

These were most likely some form of agricultural tool – hafted to be used as mattocks or hoes. They are common to Bronze Age sites in Shetland and Orkney where they can occur in their hundreds.

These stone points were hafted to an ard and used to till the soil.

These stone flakes are found at Neolithic and Early Bronze Age sites in Orkney and Shetland.

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 used for and an experimental programme was designed to investigate the potential of the Skaill knife as a butchering tool.

These flake tools were made by me and given to a professional butcher to use in his work. The subsequent edge damage on the tools was measured and correlated with the types of job the flakes had been used for. Verdict – competent butchery tools giving the sausages an extra crunch.

For more information read:

Clarke, A 1989 ‘The Skaill knife as a butchery tool’, Lithics 10, 16-27

Clarke, A 2006 Stone Tools and thePrehistory of the Northern Isles, BAR 406

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 specific activities were being carried out. Coarse stone tools appear to have been subject to some form of structured use and deposition and this appears in the archaeological record in three ways: by the dominance or single use of a particular tool type; by the presence of discrete deposits of tools; or by a combination of both. The evidence suggests that some sites were used for specific craft or processing activities over time, whilst other sites were used for multiple activities, perhaps related to repeated visits.

The full article is published as:

Clarke, A 2009 ‘Craft specialisation in the Mesolithic of Northern Britain: the evidence from the coarse stone tools’, in N Finlay; S McCarten; N Milner and CR Wickham-Jones 2009 From Bann Flakes to Bushmills, Oxbow and can be downloaded here:

https://www.academia.edu/7847739/Craft_specialisation_in_the_Mesolithic_of_northern_Britain_the_evidence_from_the_coarse_stone_tools