Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T05:07:28.931Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Non-destructive provenancing of bluestone axe-heads in Britain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2015

Olwen Williams-Thorpe ,
P.J. Potts  and
M.C. Jones
Olwen Williams-Thorpe
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK
P.J. Potts
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK
M.C. Jones
Affiliation:
Department of Statistics, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The authors present a new procedure for discovering where stone artefacts come from without having to cut a slice through them. The method is tested on axes of spotted dolerite bluestone from Preseli in Wales, source of monoliths at Stonehenge.

Keywords

stone axe-headsprovenancingmagnetic susceptibilityX-ray fluorescence
Type
Method
Information
Antiquity , Volume 78 , Issue 300 , June 2004 , pp. 359 - 379
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2004

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

Atkinson, R.J.C. 1979. Stonehenge: archaeology and interpretation. Harmondsworth: Penguin (3rd edition).Google Scholar
Bernardini, F., Potts, P.J. Jones, M.C. Webb, P.C. & Williams-Thorpe, O.. In preparation. Effect of weathering on in situ measurements of geological samples by portable X-ray fluorescence analysis: dolerite and rhyolite outcrops in the Preseli Mountains, South Wales.Google Scholar
Bevins, R. E., Lees, G. J., & Roach, R. A.. 1989. Ordovician intrusions of the Strumble Head-Mynydd Preseli region, Wales: lateral extensions of the Fishguard Volcanic Complex, Journal of the Geological Society of London 146: 113–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, R. & Edmonds, M.. 1993. Interpreting the axe trade. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cameron, D.G. 1988. A geochemical drainage survey of the Preseli Hills, south-west Dyfed, Wales, Transactions of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Section B: Applied Earth Science 97: B42.Google Scholar
Cleal, M.J., Walker, K.E., & Montague, R.. 1995. Stonehenge in its landscape. English Heritage Archaeological Report 10. London: English Heritage.Google Scholar
Clough, T. Mck, H.. & Cummins, W.A. (ed.). 1988. Stone Axe Studies Volume 2. Council for British Archaeology Research Report No. 67. London: Council for British Archaeology.Google Scholar
Cooney, G. & Mandal, S.. 1995. Getting to the core of the problem: petrological results from the Irish Stone Axe Project, Antiquity 69: 969–980.Google Scholar
Darvill, T. & Wainwright, G.. SPACES – exploring Neolithic landscapes in the Strumble-Preseli area of southwest Wales, Antiquity 76: 623–624.Google Scholar
Davis, R.V. 1985. Implement petrology: the state of the art – some problems and possibilities, in Phillips, P. (ed.), The archaeologist and the laboratory. Council for British Archaeology Research report No. 58. London: Council for British Archaeology.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 on the Petrological Identification of Stone Axes, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 28: 209–266.Google Scholar
Fell, C.I. & Davis, R.V.. 1988. The petrological identification of stone implements from Cumbria. In Mck, T.H.. Clough & W.A. Cummins 1988: 71–77.Google Scholar
Green, C. P. 1997. Stonehenge: geology and prehistory, Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association 108: 1–10.Google Scholar
Grimes, W. F. 1935. Notes on recent finds of perforated axe-hammers in Wales, Archaeologia Cambrensis 90: 267–278.Google Scholar
Ixer, R.A. 1991. Appendix 1. Opaque petrography of Stonehenge bluestone and Carnmenyn dolerites, in Thorpe, R. S. et al. 1991: 150–152.Google Scholar
Ixer, R.A. 1994. Does ore petrography have a practical role in the finger-printing of rocks? In Ashton, N. & David, A. (ed.), Stories in Stone: 10–23. Lithics Studies Society Occasional papers 4, London.Google Scholar
Ixer, R.A. 1997. Detailed provenancing of the Stonehenge dolerites using reflected light petrography, in Sinclair, A. Slater, E. & Gowlett, J. (ed.), Archaeological Sciences 1995: 11–17. Oxford: Oxbow Monograph 64.Google Scholar
Ixer, R.A., Williams-Thorpe, O. Bevins, R.E. & Chambers, A.D. In press. A comparison between ‘total petrography’ and geochemistry using a portable XRF as provenancing tools for some Midland axes, in Walker, E.A. Wenban-Smith, F., & Healy, F. (ed.), Proceedings of the ‘Lithic Studies in the Year 2000’ Conference. Oxford: Lithic Studies Society, Oxbow Books, Occasional Paper No. 8. (Pre-print available at: http://www.rosiehardman.com/goodprovenance/onlinepubs.html).Google Scholar
Jones, M. C. & Williams-Thorpe, O.. 2001. An illustration of the use of an atypicality index in provenancing British stone axes, Archaeometry 43: 1–18.Google Scholar
Lynch, F. 1975. The impact of landscape on prehistoric man, in Evans, J.G. Limbrey, S. & Cleere, H. (ed.), The effect of man on the landscape: the Highland Zone: 124–127. London: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 11.Google Scholar
Mandal, S. 1996. The Petrology of the Irish Stone Axe, Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Dublin.Google Scholar
Mandal, S. 1997. Striking the balance: the roles of petrography and geochemistry in stone axe studies in Ireland, Archaeometry 39: 289–308.Google Scholar
Markham, M. 2000. Provenance studies of British greenstone implements using non-destructive analytical methods. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Open University, UK.Google Scholar
Pitts, M. 1996. The stone axe in Neolithic Britain, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 62: 311–371.Google Scholar
Potts, P.J., Webb, P.C. Williams-Thorpe, O. & Kilworth, R.. 1995. Analysis of silicate rocks using field-portable X-ray fluorescence instrumentation incorporating a mercury (II) iodide detector: a preliminary assessment of analytical performance, Analyst 120: 1273–1278.Google Scholar
Potts, P.J., Webb, P.C. & Williams-Thorpe, O.. 1997(a). Investigation of a correction procedure for surface irregularity effects based on scatter peak intensities in the field analysis of geological and archaeological rock samples by portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectroscopy 12: 769–776.Google Scholar
Potts, P.J., Webb, P.C. & Williams-Thorpe, O. 1997(b). The bulk analysis of silicate rocks by portable X-ray fluorescence: effects of sample mineralogy in relation to the size of the excited volume, Geostandards Newsletter 21: 29–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rollinson, H. 1993. Using geochemical data. Harlow: Longman Scientific and Technical.Google 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: 85–91. Bath: Adamas and Dart.Google Scholar
Stone, J.F.S. & Wallis, F.S.. 1951. Third 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 17: 95–158.Google Scholar
Thomas, H.H. 1923. The sources of the stones of Stonehenge, The Antiquaries Journal 3: 239–260.Google Scholar
Thorpe, R. S., Williams-Thorpe, O. Jenkins, D. G. & Watson, J. S., with contributions by Ixer, R.A. & Thomas, R.G.. 1991. The geological sources and transport of the bluestones of Stonehenge, Wiltshire, UK, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 57: 103–157.Google Scholar
Williams-Thorpe, O. In press. The application of portable X-ray fluorescence analysis to archaeological lithic studies, in Potts, P.J. & West, M. (ed.), Portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry: capabilities for in situ analysis. London: Royal Society of Chemistry.Google Scholar
Williams-Thorpe, O. & Thorpe, R.S.. 1993. Magnetic susceptibility used in non-destructive provenancing of Roman granite columns. Archaeometry 35: 185–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams-Thorpe, O., Potts, P.J. & Webb, P.C.. 1999. Field-portable non-destructive analysis of lithic archaeological samples by X-ray fluorescence instrumentation using a mercury iodide detector: comparison with wavelength-dispersive XRF and a case study in British stone axe provenancing, Journal of Archaeological Science 26: 215–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams-Thorpe, O., Jones, M.C. Potts, P.J. & Rigby, I. J.. (based in part on field observations by Peacock, D. Phillips, J. & Bradford, N.). 2001. Geology, mineralogy and characterisation studies of Imperial Porphyry, in Maxfield, V.A. & Peacock, D.P.S. (ed.), The Roman Imperial Quarries, Survey and Excavation at Mons Porphyrites 1994–1998, Volume 1: Topography and Quarries. Cairo: Egypt Exploration Society: 305–318.Google Scholar
Williams-Thorpe, O., Webb, P.C. & Thorpe, R.S.. 2000a. Non-destructive portable gamma ray spectrometry used in provenancing Roman granitioid columns from Leptis Magna, North Africa. Archaeometry 42: 77–99.Google Scholar
Williams-Thorpe, O., Webb, P.C. Jones, M.C. & Rigby, I.J.. 2000b. Magnetic susceptibility thickness corrections for small artefacts and comments on the effects of ‘background’ materials, Archaeometry 42: 101–108.Google Scholar
Williams-Thorpe, O., Jones, M.C. & Webb, P.C.. 2003. Non-destructive geochemical and magnetic characterisation of Group XVIII dolerite stone axes and shaft-hole implements from England, Journal of Archaeological Science 30: 1237–1267. 379 Google Scholar