Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T20:33:40.689Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Getting to the core of the problem: petrological results from the Irish Stone Axe Project

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Gabriel Cooney
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland
Stephen Mandal
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland

Abstract

When a distribution map of Neolithic stone axes in Ireland was published in ANTIQUITY (Grogan & Cooney 1990), the new Irish Stone Axe Project (ISAP) was mentioned. Stone axes, it turns out, are unusually common in Ireland. Here Project progress is outlined, with special attention being given to those axes identified as having been moved across the Irish Sea.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agrell, S.O. & Langley, J.M. 1958. The dolerite plug at Tievebulliagh, near Cushendall, Co. Antrim, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 59B: 94127.Google Scholar
Ashton, N. & David, A. (ed.). 1994. Stories in stone. London: Lithic Studies Society. Occasional Paper 4.Google Scholar
Berridge, P. 1994. Cornish axe factories: fact or fiction, in Ashton & David (ed.): 4556.Google Scholar
Boydston, R.A. 1989. A cost-benefit study of functionally similar tools, in Torrence, R. (ed.), Time, energy and stone tools: 6777. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bradley, R. & Edmonds, M. 1993. Interpreting the axe trade. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Briggs, C.S. 1988. Stone resources and implements in prehistoric Ireland: a review, Ulster Journal of Archaeology 51: 520.Google Scholar
Chappell, S.J. 1987. Stone axe morphology and distribution in Neolithic Britain. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports. British series 177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clough, T.H. MCK. 1988. Introduction to the regional reports: prehistoric stone implements in the British Isles, in Clough & Cummins (ed.): 111.Google Scholar
Clough, T.H. McK. & Cummins, W.A. (ed.). 1979. Stone axe studies. London: Council for British Archaeology. Research report 23.Google Scholar
Clough, T.H. McK. & Cummins, W.A. (ed.). 1988. Stone axe studies 2. London: Council for British Archaeology. Research report 67.Google Scholar
Cooney, G. 1992. The gift of stone, Archaeology Ireland 22: 24–7.Google Scholar
Cooney, G. 1993. Lambay: an island on the horizon, Archaeology Ireland 26: 24–8.Google Scholar
Cooney, G. 1994. Lambay Island, in Bennett, I. (ed.), Excavations 1993: 31–2. Dublin: Wordwell.Google Scholar
Cooney, G. 1995. At the cutting edge, Technology Ireland 26(9): 26–9.Google Scholar
Cooney, G. Forthcoming. Review of the Irish Stone Axe Project. Dublin: Irish Stone Axe Project.Google Scholar
Cooney, G., Feehan, J., Grogan, E. & Stillman, C. 1990a. Stone axes from Co. Tipperary, Tipperary Historical Journal 2: 197203.Google Scholar
Cooney, G., O’Carroll, F., Grogan, E. & Mandal, S. 1990b. Stone axes of County Louth: a second report, Louth Archaeological and Historical Journal 21(2): 178–86.Google Scholar
Coope, G.R. 1979. The influence of geology on the manufacture of Neolithic and Bronze Age stone implements in the British Isles, in Clough & Cummins (ed.): 98101.Google Scholar
Cummins, W.A. 1980. Stone axes as a guide to Neolithic communications and boundaries in England and Wales, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 46: 4560.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cummins, W.A. 1983. Petrology of stone axes and tools, in Kempe, D.R.C. & Harvey, A.P. (ed.), The petrology of archaeological artefacts: 171226. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Darvill, T. 1989. The circulation of Neolithic stone and flint axes: a case study from Wales and the mid-west of England, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 55: 2743.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, V.R. 1985. Implement petrology: the state of the art — some problems and possibilities, in Philips, P. (ed.), The archaeologist and the laboratory: 33–5. London: Council for British Archaeology. Research Report 58.Google Scholar
Davis, V.R. 1991. Implement petrology — at the cutting edge. Paper presented at the Archaeological Stone conference, British Museum, 1991.Google Scholar
Davis, V.R., Howard, H. & Smith, I.F. 1988. The penological identification of stone axes from south-west England: sixth report, in Clough & Cummins (ed.): 1420.Google Scholar
Dawson, J. 1951. The Brockley Dolerite Plug and the Church Bay Volcanic Vent, Rathlin Island, Co. Antrim, Irish Naturalists’ Journal 10: 15661.Google Scholar
Dempsey, I. 1993. Who was W.J. Knowles?, Causeway (Autumn): 2631.Google Scholar
Evans, E.E. 1966. Prehistoric and early Christian Ireland. London: Batsford.Google Scholar
Evens, E.D., Grinsell, L.V., Piggott, S. & Wallis, F.S. 1962. Fourth report of the sub-committee of the South-Western group of Museums and Art Galleries (England) on the petrological identification of stone axes, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 28: 209–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evens, E.D., , Smith, I.F. & Wallis, F.S. 1972. The petrological identification of stone implements from south-western England: fifth report of the sub-committee of the South-western Federation of Museums and Art Galleries, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 38: 235–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenton, M.B. & Travis, R.J.A. 1988. A method for taking petrological samples from stone implements, in Clough & Cummins (ed.): 1213.Google Scholar
Francis, E.L., , Francis, P.J. & Preston, J. 1988. The petrological identification of stone implements from Ireland, in Clough & Cummins (ed.): 137–40.Google Scholar
Grogan, E. & Cooney, G. 1990. A preliminary distribution map of stone axes in Ireland, Antiquity 64: 559–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartnett, P.J. & Eogan, G. 1964. Feltrim Hill, Co. Dublin: a Neolithic and early Christian site, Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 94: 138.Google Scholar
Herity, M. 1982. Irish decorated Neolithic pottery, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 82C: 247304.Google Scholar
Holland, C.H. (ed.). 1981. A geology of Ireland. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press.Google Scholar
Jope, E.M. 1952. Porcellanite axes from factories in northeast Ireland: Tievebulliagh and Rathlin. Part 1. Archaeological survey, Ulster Journal of Archaeology 15: 3155.Google Scholar
Keiller, A., Piggott, S. & Wallis, F.S. 1941. First report of the Sub-Committee of the South-Western Group of Museums and Art Galleries on the petrological identification of stone axes, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 7: 5072.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knowles, M.C. 1904. Kitchen middens — Co. Clare, Journal of the limerick Field Club 2: 3542.Google Scholar
Knowles, W.J. 1893. Irish stone axes and chisels, Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 23: 140–63.Google Scholar
Knowles, W.J. 1903. Stone axe factories near Cushendall, Co. Antrim, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 33: 36066.Google Scholar
Knowles, W.J. 1906. Stone axe factories near Cushendall, Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 36: 383–94.Google Scholar
Le Roux, C.-T. 1975. Il y a plusieurs millénaires … fabrique et commerce des haches en pierre polie, Les dossiers de I’Archéologie 11: 4355.Google Scholar
Le Roux, C.-T. 1979. Stone axes of Brittany and the Marches, in Clough & Cummins (ed.): 4956.Google Scholar
Macalister, R.A.S. 1929. On some antiquities discovered upon Lambay, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 38C: 240–46.Google Scholar
Mahr, A. 1937. New aspects and problems in Irish prehistory: Presidential address for 1937, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 3: 261436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mallory, J. 1990. Trial excavations at Tievebulliagh, Co. Antrim, Ulster Journal of Archaeology 53, 1528.Google Scholar
Manby, T. 1979. Typology, material and distribution of flint and stone axes in Yorkshire, in Clough & Cummins (ed.): 6581.Google Scholar
Mandal, S., Cooney, G., Grogan, E., O’Carroll, F. & Guinan, B. 1991/92. A review of the petrological techniques being utilised to identify, group and source Irish stone axes, Journal of Irish Archaeology 6: 111.Google Scholar
Mandal, S. & Cooney, G. In press. The Irish Stone Axe Project: a second petrological report, Journal of Irish Archaeology.Google Scholar
Merger, R. 1986. The Neolithic in Cornwall, Cornish Archaeology 25: 3580.Google Scholar
Moore, C.N. 1979. Stone axes from the East Midlands, in Clough & Cummins (ed.): 82–6.Google Scholar
O’Brien, W.F. 1990. Prehistoric copper mining in south-west Ireland: the Mount Gabriel-type mines, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 56: 269–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olsen, A.B. & Alsaker, S. 1984. Greenstone and diabase utilization in the Stone Age of western Norway: technological and socio-cultural aspects of axe and adze production and distribution, Norwegian Archaeological Review 17: 71103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Nuallain, S. & Walsh, P. 1986. A reconsideration of the Tramore passage-tombs, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 52: 25–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patton, M., 1991. An early Neolithic axe factory at Le Pinacle, Jersey, Channel Islands, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 57: 51–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearce, J.A. 1983. The role of the sub-continental lithosphere in magma genesis at active continental margins, in Hawkesworth, C.J. & Norry, M.J. (ed.), Continental basalts and mantle xenoliths: 230–49. London: Shiva.Google Scholar
Rollinson, H. 1993. Using geochenrical data: evaluation, presentation and interpretation. London: Longmans.Google Scholar
Saville, A. 1994. Exploitation of lithic resources for stone tools in earlier prehistoric Scotland, in Ashton & David (ed.): 5770.Google Scholar
Saville, A. & Sheridan, A. 1990. The Campbeltown flint hoard, Past 9: 45.Google Scholar
Sheridan, A. 1986. Porcellanite artifacts: a new survey, Ulster Journal of Archaeology 49: 1932.Google Scholar
Sheridan, A. 1992. Scottish stone axeheads: some new work and recent discoveries, in Sharples, N. & Sheridan, A. (ed.), Vessels for the ancestors: 194212. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Sheridan, A., Cooney, G. & Grogan, E. 1992. Stone axe studies in Ireland, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 58: 389416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shotton, F.W. 1972. The large stone axes ascribed to north–west Pembrokeshire, in Lynch, F. & Burgess, C. (ed.) Prehistoric man in Wales and the west: 8591. Bath: Adams & Dart.Google Scholar
Simpson, D.D.A. 1993. Ballygalley, Current Archaeology 134: 6062.Google Scholar
Smith, I.F. 1979. The chronology of British stone implements, in Clough & Cummins (ed.): 1322.Google Scholar
Stillman, C.J. & Francis, E.H. 1979. Caledonide volcanism in Britain and Ireland, in Harris, A.L. et al. (ed.), The Caledonides of the British Isles — reviewed: 557–78. London: Geological Society.Google Scholar
Stone, J.F.S. & Wallis, F.S. 1947. Second report of the south-western group of museums and art galleries on the petrological identification of stone axes, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 13: 4755.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stone, J.F.S. & Wallis, F.S. 1951. Third report of the south–western group of museums and art galleries on the petrological identification of stone axes, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 17: 99158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorpe, R.S., Williams-Thorpe, O., Jenkins, D.G. & Watson, J.S. 1991. The geological sources and transport of the bluestones of Stonehenge, Wiltshire, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 57(2): 103–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomkeieff, S.I. 1940. The dolerite plugs of Tioveragh and Tievebulliagh, near Cushendall, Co. Antrim, with a note on Buchite, Geological Magazine 77: 5464.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waddell, J. 1991/2. The Irish Sea in prehistory, Journal of Irish Archaeology 6: 2940.Google Scholar
Warner, R. 1994. New Neolithic site on Rathlin, Archaeology Ireland 29: 5.Google Scholar
Williams, B. 1990. The archaeology of Rathlin Island, Archaeology Ireland 12: 4751.Google Scholar
Wilson, H.E., & Robbie, J.A. 1966. The geology of the country around Ballycastle, Geological Society of Northern Ireland, Memoir One-inch Geological sheet 8: 242–8. Belfast: HMSO.Google Scholar
Woodman, P.C. 1977. Recent excavations at Newferry, Co. Antrim, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 43: 155200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodman, P.C. 1978. The Mesolithic in Ireland. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports. British Series 58.Google Scholar
Woodman, P.C. 1987. The impact of resource availability on lithic industrial traditions in prehistoric Ireland, in Rowley-Conwy, P. et al. (ed.), Mesolithic northwest Europe: recent trends: 138–46. Sheffield: Department of Archaeology and Prehistory, University of Sheffield.Google Scholar
Woodman, P.C. 1992. Excavations at Mad Man’s Window, Glenarm, Co. Antrim: problems of flint exploitation in east Antrim, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 58: 77106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodman, P.C. & Johnston, I. 1991/2. A petrological examination of some Mesolithic stone artefacts, Ulster journal of Archaeology 54–5: 134–7.Google Scholar