Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T00:18:14.687Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Nature of the Source and the Manufacture of Scottish Battle-axes and Axe-hammers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

M. B. Fenton
M. B. Fenton*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, England
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A total of 190 axe-hammers and 82 battle-axes from all over Scotland were studied. Attention was focused on the key question of whether the implements were made from cobbles or from scree-outcrop blocks. In glaciated regions such as Scotland, the nature of the source exploited is critical, since the area from which a rock-type may be obtained is greatly enlarged if cobble-blanks were used. Exhaustive petrological and typological studies suggest that a rather haphazard exploitation of suitable-looking locally available rock-types took place. The manufacturing experiments described here were designed to discover how the implements were made, and the essential properties required of the blanks. They showed that a blank should be (a) free of flaws, (b) of a suitable rock-type, and (c) close in form to the implement required. Thirty-one timed searches were made of cobble-deposits and scree/outcrop sites within the areas of distribution of the artefacts. Cobbles, because they are more often free of flaws and better-shaped, proved much superior to scree/outcrop blocks as blanks. The main conclusion of this paper, therefore, is that the great majority of Scottish battle-axes and axe-hammers were made from cobbles. There is evidence to suggest that this conclusion may be extended to the rest of Britain, and to other types of implement made by pecking and grinding, including some unperforated stone axes.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 50 , Issue 1 , December 1984 , pp. 217 - 243
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1984

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

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Briggs, C. S., 1976. ‘Notes on the distribution of some raw materials in later prehistoric Britain’, in Burgess, C. and Miket, R. (eds), Settlement and Economy in the Third and Second Millennia B.C., 267–82. Brit. Archaeol. Rep. 33.Google Scholar
Close-Brooks, J., 1975. ‘Notes on museum acquisitions 1972–74’, Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scotland 106, 225–28.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, T. H. McK. and Cummins, W. A. (eds), Stone Axe Studies, 98–101. Council Brit. Archaeol. Research Rep. 23.Google Scholar
Cummins, W. A., 1979. ‘Neolithic stone axes: distribution and trade in England and Wales’, in Clough, T. H. McK. and Cummins, W. A. (eds), Stone Axe Studies, 5–12. Council Brit. Archaeol. Research Rep. 23.Google Scholar
Cummins, W. A. and Moore, C. N., 1973. ‘Petrological identification of stone implements from Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland’, Proc. Prehist. Soc. 39, 219–55.Google Scholar
Evans, J., 1897. The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain, 2nd ed. London, Longmans, Green, and Co Google Scholar
Evens, E. D., Grinsell, L. D., Piggott, S., and Wallace, F. S., 1962. ‘Fourth report of the Sub-Committee … on the petrological identification of stone-axes’, Proc. Prehist. Soc. 28, 209–66.Google Scholar
Fenton, M. B., 1983. Scottish Battle-axes and Axe-hammers: Petrology, Typology, Manufacture and Source. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Nottingham.Google Scholar
Harmer, F. W., 1928. ‘The distribution of erratics and drift’, Proc. Yorks. Geol. Soc. 21, 79–150.Google Scholar
Hartley, A., 1974. ‘A review of the geological factors influencing the mechanical properties of road surface aggregates’, Q.J. Eng. Geol. 7, 69–100.Google Scholar
Hodges, H., 1964. Artifacts. London, John Baker.Google Scholar
Keen, L. and Radley, J., 1971. ‘Report on the petrological identification of stone axes from Yorkshire’, Proc. Prehist. Soc. 37, 16–37.Google Scholar
Keiller, A., Piggott, S., and Wallis, F. S., 1941. ‘First report of the Sub-Committee … on the petrological identification of stone axes’, Proc. Prehist. Soc. 7, 50–72.Google Scholar
Lawn, B. R. and Wilshaw, T. R., 1975. Fracture of Brittle Solids. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Livens, R. G., 1959. ‘Petrology of Scottish stone implements’, Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scotland 92, 56–70.Google Scholar
Manby, R. G., 1979. ‘Typology, materials and distribution of flint and stone axes in Yorkshire’, in Clough, T. H. McK. and Cummins, W. A. (eds), Stone Axe Studies, 65–81. Council Brit. Archaeol. Research Rep. 23.Google Scholar
Pettijohn, F. J., 1975. Sedimentary Rocks, 3rd ed. London, Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Ritchie, P. R., 1968. ‘The stone implement trade in third millennium Scotland’, in Coles, J. M. and Simpson, D. D. A. (eds), Studies in Ancient Europe, 117–36. Leicester, Leicester University Press.Google Scholar
Roe, F. E. S., 1966. ‘The battle-axe series in Britain’, Proc. Prehist. Soc. 32, 199–245.Google Scholar
Roe, F. E. S., 1967. ‘The battle-axes, mace-heads and axe-hammers from south-west Scotland’, Trans. J. Proc. Dumfries. Galloway Nat. Hist. Antiq. Soc. 3rd ser., 44, 57–80.Google Scholar
Roe, F. E. S., 1968. ‘Stone mace-heads and the latest Neolithic cultures of the British Isles’, in Coles, J. M. and Simpson, D. D. A. (eds), Studies in Ancient Europe, 145–72. Leicester, Leicester University Press.Google Scholar
Roe, F. E. S., 1979. ‘Typology of stone implements with shaftholes’, in Clough, T. H. McK. and Cummins, W. A. (eds), Stone Axe Studies, 23–48. Council Brit. Archaeol. Research Rep. 23.Google Scholar
Semenov, S. A., 1964. Prehistoric Technology. London, Cory, Adams and Mackay.Google Scholar
Shotton, F. W., 1959. ‘New petrological groups based on axes from the West Midlands’, Proc. Prehist. Soc. 25, 135–43.Google Scholar
Shotton, F. W., 1968. ‘Prehistoric man's use of stone in Britain’, Proc. Geol. Ass. 79, 477–91.Google Scholar
Shotton, F. W., Chitty, L. F. and Seaby, W. A., 1951. ‘A new centre of stone axe dispersal on the Welsh Border’, Proc. Prehist. Soc. 17, 159–67.Google Scholar
Smith, I. F., 1979. ‘The chronology of British stone implements’, in Clough, T. H. McK. and Cummins, W. A. (eds), Stone Axe Studies, 13–22. Council Brit. Archaeol. Research Rep. 23.Google Scholar
Stone, J. F. S. and Wallis, F. S., 1947. ‘Second report of the Sub-Committee … on the petrological identification of stone axes’, Proc. Prehist. Soc. 13, 47–55.Google Scholar
Stone, J. F. S. and Wallis, F. S., 1951. ‘Third report of the Sub-Committee … on the petrological identification of stone axes’, Proc. Prehist. Soc. 17, 99–158.Google Scholar
Swain, M. V. and Lawn, B. R., 1976. ‘Indentation fracture in brittle rocks and glasses’, Int. J. Rock Mech. & Mining Sci. 13, 311–19.Google Scholar