Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T04:09:13.509Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A Cache of Flint Axeheads and Other Flint Artefacts from Auchenhoan, near Campbeltown, Kintyre, Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2014

Alan Saville
Affiliation:
National Museums of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh EH1 1JF

Abstract

The unique discovery in Scotland of a cache of five flint axeheads and other flint artefacts is described and the contents analysed in detail. It is concluded that the cache represents artefacts imported from the north of Ireland during the Neolithic period. Two earlier finds of caches of flint artefacts from south-west Scotland are also described.

Résumé

On décrit l'unique découverte en Ecosse d'une cache contenant cinq têtes de haches et d'autres objets fabriqués en silex et on fait une analyse détaillée du contenu. On en conclut que la cache représente des objets importés du nord de l'Irlande pendant la période néolithique. On décrit également deux découvertes de caches plus anciennes contenant des objets en silex provenant du sud-ouest de l'Ecosse.

Zusammenfassung

Die einzigartige Entdeckung eines Versteckfundes von fünf Feuersteinäxten und anderen Feuersteinartefakten wird beschrieben und im Detail analysiert. Dabei wird der Schluss gezogen, dass der Versteckfund Artefakte darstellt, die aus dem Norden Irlands während der neolithischen Periode importiert wurden. Es werden in diesem Zusammenhang auch zwei frühere Versteckfunde von Feuersteinartefakten aus Südwest-Schottland beschrieben.

Résumen

Se describe el descubrimiento, único en Escocia, de un alijo de cinco hachas de sílex y otros útiles también en sílex, y se analiza su contenido en detalle. Se concluye que el alijo representa artefactos importados del norte de Irlanda durante el neolítico. El trabajo también describe dos hallazgos previos de alijos de artefactos de sílex en el suroeste de Escocia.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1999

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

Anderson, J. 1886. Scotland in Pagan Times: the Bronze and Stone Ages. Edinburgh: David Douglas.Google Scholar
Anderson, J. 1896. Notes on a deposit of flints worked to a leaf-shape, found at Bulwark, Old Deer, Aberdeenshire. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 30 (1895–6), 346–51.Google Scholar
Anon. 1902. Purchases for the Museum and Library. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 36 (1901–1902), 6670.Google Scholar
Anon. 1911. Palace of History: catalogue of exhibits. Glasgow: Dalross.Google Scholar
Armstrong, E.C.R. 1918. Associated finds of Irish Neolithic celts. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 34C, 8195.Google Scholar
Bertola, S., Di Anastasio, G. & Peresani, M. 1997. Hoarding unworked flints within humid microenvironments. New evidence from the Mesolithic of the Southern Alps. Préhistoire Européenne 10, 173–85.Google Scholar
Bradley, R. 1990. The Passage of arms: an archaeological analysis of prehistoric hoards and votive deposits. 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
Brown, A.G. 1986. Flint and chert small finds from the Somerset Levels, part 1: the Brue Valley. Somerset Levels Papers 12, 1227.Google Scholar
Bruce-Mitford, R.L.S. 1938. A hoard of Neolithic axes from Peaslake, Surrey. Antiquaries Journal 18(3), 279–84.Google Scholar
Callander, J.G. 1917. A flint workshop on the Hill of Skares, Aberdeenshire. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 51 (1916–17), 117–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Childe, V.G. 1944. Scotland Before the Scots. London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Clark, J.G.D. 1929. Discoidal polished flint knives – their typology and distribution. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia 6(1), 4054.Google Scholar
Clarke, D.V., Cowie, T.G., & Foxon, A. 1985. Symbols of Power at the Time of Stonehenge. Edinburgh: HMSO.Google Scholar
Close-Brooks, J. 1978. Three stone axes from Newmarket, Isle of Lewis. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 109 (1977–8), 356–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clough, T.H.McK. & Cummins, W.A (eds). 1988. Stone Axe studies, Vol.2. London: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 67.Google Scholar
Coles, J.M. 1966. A ‘Bann Point’ from Dumfriesshire. Transactions of the Dumfriesshire & Galloway Natural History & Antiquarian Society 43, 147.Google Scholar
Coles, J.M. 1989. Somerset Levels Project. Catalogue of Finds. Somerset Levels Paper 15, 3361.Google Scholar
Coles, J.M. & Orme, B.J. 1978. Bronze Age implements from Skinner's Wood, Shapwick. Somerset Levels Papers 4, 114–21.Google Scholar
Coles, J.M. & Orme, B.J. 1979. The Sweet Track: Drove site. Somerset Levels Papers 5, 4364.Google Scholar
Collins, A.E.P. 1978. Excavations on Ballygalley Hill, County Antrim. Ulster Journal of Archaeology 41, 1532.Google Scholar
Collins, A.E.P. 1981. The flint javelin heads of Ireland. In Corráin, D. O (ed.), Irish Antiquity: essays and studies presented to Professor M.J. O'Kelly, 111–33. Dublin: Tower Books.Google Scholar
Cooney, G. & Mandal, S. 1998. The Irish Stone Axe Project, Monograph 1. Bray: Wordwell.Google Scholar
Cowie, T. 1981. Loch Airigh na Ceardaich, Balallan: stone axeheads. In Proudfoot, E.V.W. & Parker, A.M. (eds), Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 1981, 50. Edinburgh: Scottish Group, Council for British Archaeology.Google Scholar
Davidson, J.M. 1952. Report on some discoveries at Glenluce Sands, Wigtownshire. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 86 (1951–2) 4369.Google Scholar
Davidson, J.L. & Henshall, A.S. 1989. The Chambered Cairns of Orkney. Edinburgh: University Press.Google Scholar
Ebbeson, K. 1993. Sacrifices to the powers of nature. In Hvass, S. & Storgaard, B. (eds), Digging into the Past: 25 years of archaeology in Denmark, 122–5. Copenhagen: Aarhus Universitetsforlag.Google Scholar
Evans, E.E. 1953. Lyles Hill, a Late Neolithic Site in County Antrim. Belfast: HMSO.Google Scholar
Evans, E.E. & Davies, O. 1934. Excavation of a chambered horned cairn at Ballyalton, Co. Down. Proceedings of the Belfast Natural History & Philosophical Society 1933–4, 79104.Google Scholar
Evans, J. 1897. The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Finlayson, B. 1989. A Pragmatic Approach to the Functional Analysis of Chipped Stone Tools. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Finlayson, B. 1990. Lithic exploitation during the Mesolithic in Scotland. Scottish Archaeological Review 7, 4157.Google Scholar
Finlayson, B. 1997a. Chipped stone. In Johnston, D.A., Biggar Common, 1987–93: an early prehistoric funerary and domestic landscape in Clydesdale, South Lanarkshire. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries ōf Scotland 127, 223–34.Google Scholar
Finlayson, B. 1997b. The plano-convex knife. In Mercer, R.J. & Midgley, M.S., The Early Bronze Age cairn at Skatewan, Balnaguard, Perth & Kinross. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 127, 309–11.Google Scholar
Finlayson, B. & Mithen, S. 1997. The microwear and morphology of microliths from Gleann Mor. In Knecht, H. (ed.), Projectile Technology, 107–29. New York: Plenum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flanagan, L.N.W. 1965. Flint hollow scrapers and the Irish Neolithic. In Union Internationale des Sciences Préhistoriques et Protohistoriques, Atti del VI Congresso Internazionale delle Scienze Preistoriche e Protostoriche Roma, 1962, Vol. II, 323–28. Florence: G.C. Sansoni Editore.Google Scholar
Flanagan, L.N.W. 1970. A flint hoard from Ballyclare, Co. Antrim. Ulster Journal of Archaeology 33, 1522.Google Scholar
Gailey, A. 1993. Across ‘The Sheugh’: cultural relations between Scotland and Ireland. In Cheape, H. (ed.), Tools and traditions: studies in European Ethnology presented to Alexander Fenton, 43–8. Edinburgh: National Museums of Scotland.Google Scholar
Gillies, H.C. 1906. The place-names of Argyll. London: David Nutt.Google Scholar
Grace, R. 1989. Interpreting the Function of Stone Tools. Oxford: British Archaeological Report S474.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grace, R. 1990. The limitations and applications of use wear analysis. In Graslund, B., Knutsson, H., Knutsson, K., & Taffinder, J. (eds), The Interpretative Possibilities of Microwear Studies, 914. Uppsala: Societas Archaeologica Upsaliensis.Google Scholar
Gray, A. 1894. Notice of the discovery of a cinerary urn of the Bronze Age, and of worked flints underneath it, at Dalaruan; also of an old flint working-place in the 30-foot raised beach at Millknowe, Campbeltown. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 28 (1893–4), 263–74.Google Scholar
Green, H.S. 1980. The Flint Arrowheads of the British Isles. Oxford: British Archaeological Report 75.Google Scholar
Henshall, A.S. 1972. The Chambered Tombs of Scotland, volume 2. Edinburgh: University Press.Google Scholar
Herity, M. 1987. The finds from Irish court tombs. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 87C, 103281.Google Scholar
Howarth, E. 1899. Catalogue of the Bateman Collection of Antiquities in the Sheffield Public Museum. London: Dulau & Co.Google Scholar
Jope, E.M. (ed). 1966. An Archaeological Survey of County Down. Belfast: HMSO.Google Scholar
Keeley, L.H. 1980. Experimental Determination of Stone Tool Uses: a microwear analysis. Chicago: University Press.Google Scholar
Knowles, W.J. 1903a. Stone axe factories near Cushendall, County Antrim. Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain & Ireland 33, 360–6.Google Scholar
Knowles, W.J. 1903b. Irish flint arrow- and spear-heads. Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain & Ireland 33, 4456.Google Scholar
Knowles, W.J. 1913. Prehistoric stone implements from the River Bann and Lough Neagh. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 30C (1912–13) 195222.Google Scholar
Lacaille, A.D. 1954. The Stone Age in Scotland. London: Oxford University Press for the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum.Google Scholar
Livens, R.G. 1956. Three tanged points from Scotland. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 89 (1955–6) 438–43.Google Scholar
McCallien, W.J. & Lacaille, A.D. 1941. The Campbeltown raised beach and its contained stone industry. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 75 (1940–1), 5592.Google Scholar
Mallory, J.P. & McNeill, T.E. 1991. The Archaeology of Ulster from Colonization to Plantation. Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies.Google Scholar
Manby, T.G. 1979. Typology, materials, and distribution of flint and stone axes in Yorkshire. In Clough, T.H.McK. & Cummins, W.A. (eds), Stone Axe Studies, 6581. London: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 23.Google Scholar
Martin, A. 1984. Kintyre: the hidden past. Edinburgh: John Donald.Google Scholar
Mitchell, A. 1865. Exhibition at the meeting. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 6 (1864–5), 48.Google Scholar
Neish, J. 1872. Notes of stone celts found in Glenshee, Forfarshire, 1870; and of clay cones (loom weights) found at Ravensby, Parish of Barrie, Forfarshire. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 9 (1871–2), 174–6.Google Scholar
Newcomer, M.H., Grace, R. & Unger-Hamilton, R. 1986. Investigating microwear polishes with blind tests. Journal of Archaeological Science 13, 203–17.Google Scholar
Newcomer, M.H., Grace, R. & Unger-Hamilton, R. 1987. Microwear polishes, blind tests, and texture analysis. In de, G.Sieveking, G. & Newcomer, M.H. (eds), The Human Uses of Flint and Chert, 253–63. Cambridge: University Press.Google Scholar
Newcomer, M.H., Grace, R. & Unger-Hamilton, R. 1988. Microwear methodology: a reply to Moss, Hurcombe and Bamforth. Journal of Archaeological Science 15, 2533.Google Scholar
Nicolaisen, W.F.H. 1976. Scottish Place-names: their study and significance. London: Batsford.Google Scholar
Odell, G.H. 1990. Brer Rabbit seeks true knowledge. In Graslund, B., Knutsson, H., Knutsson, K., & Taffinder, J. (eds), The Interpretative Possibilities of Microwear Studies, 125–34. Uppsala: Societas Archaeologica Upsaliensis.Google Scholar
Ohnuma, K. & Bergman, C. 1982. Experimental studies in the determination of flaking mode. University of London Institute of Archaeology Bulletin 19, 161–70.Google Scholar
Olausson, D.S. 1982. Lithic technological analysis of the thin-butted flint axe. Acta Archaeologica 53, 187.Google Scholar
Pierpoint, S. 1980. Social Patterns in Yorkshire Prehistory 3500–750 B.C. Oxford: British Archaeological Report 74.Google Scholar
Piggott, S. 1954. Neolithic Cultures of the British Isles. Cambridge: University Press.Google Scholar
Piggott, S. 1972. Excavation of the Dalladies long barrow, Fettercairn, Kincardineshire. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 104 (1971–2) 2347.Google Scholar
Pitts, M. 1996. The stone axe in Neolithic Britain. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 62, 311–71.Google Scholar
Radley, J. 1967. The York hoard of flint tools, 1868. Yorkshire Archaeological Journal 42, 131–2.Google Scholar
Raftery, J. 1951. Prehistoric Ireland. London: Batsford.Google Scholar
Ritchie, G. 1997. Monuments associated with burial and ritual in Argyll. In Ritchie, G. (ed.), The Archaeology of Argyll, 6794. Edinburgh: University Press.Google Scholar
Ritchie, P.R. & Scott, J.G. 1988. The petrological identification of stone axes from Scotland. In Clough, & Cummins, (eds) 1988, 8591.Google Scholar
Saville, A. 1981. Grimes Graves, Norfolk, Excavations 1971–72: Vol.11, the flint assemblage. London: HMSO; Department of the Environment Archaeological Report 11.Google Scholar
Saville, A. 1982. Carrying cores to Gloucestershire: some thoughts on lithic resource exploitation. Lithics 3, 25–8.Google Scholar
Saville, A. 1990 Hazleton North, Gloucestershire, 1979–82: the excavation of a Neolithic long cairn of the Cotswold-Severn Group. London: English Heritage Archaeological Report 13.Google Scholar
Saville, A. 1994. Exploitation of lithic resources for stone tools in earlier prehistoric Scotland. In Ashton, N. & David, A. (eds), Stories in Stone, 5770. London: Lithic Studies Society Occasional Paper 4.Google Scholar
Saville, A. 1995. Prehistoric exploitation of flint from the Buchan Ridge Gravels, Grampian Region, north-east Scotland. Archaeologia Polona 33, 353–68.Google Scholar
Saville, A. & Sheridan, A. 1990. The Campbeltown flint hoard. Past 9 (July 1990), 45.Google Scholar
Scott, J.G. 1956. The excavation of the chambered cairn at Brackley, Kintyre, Argyll. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 89 (1955–6) 2254.Google Scholar
Scott, J.G. 1969. The Neolithic period in Kintyre, Argyll. In Powell, T.G.E, Corcoran, J.X.W.P., Lynch, F., & Scott, J.G., Megalithic Enquiries in the West of Britain, 223–46. Liverpool: University Press.Google Scholar
Scott, J.G. 1973. Axeheads of Group IX from Kintyre, Argyll. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 39, 469–71.Google Scholar
Shepherd, W. 1972. Flint: its origin, properties and uses. London: Faber & Faber.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 Sharpies, N. & Sheridan, A. (eds), Vessels for the Ancestors, 194212. Edinburgh: University Press.Google Scholar
Sheridan, A. 1995. Irish Neolithic pottery: the story in 1995. In Kinnes, I. & Varndell, G. (eds), ‘Unbaked urns of rudely shape’: essays on British and Irish pottery for Ian Longworth, 321. Oxford: Oxbow Monograph 55.Google Scholar
Sheridan, A., Cooney, G., & Grogan, E. 1992. Stone axe studies in Ireland. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 58, 389416.Google Scholar
Simpson, D.D.A. 1995. The Neolithic settlement at Ballygalley, Co. Antrim. In Grogan, E. & Mount, C. (eds), Annus Archaeologiae, 3744. Dublin: Organisation of Irish Archaeologists.Google Scholar
Smith, I.F. 1965. Windmill Hill and Avebury: excavations by Alexander Keiller 1925–39. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Smith, J. 1882. On the occurrence of flint nodules and worked flints in the post-Tertiary sands of the Ayrshire coast between Saltcoats and Troon. Transactions of the Geological Society of Glasgow 6, 185–91.Google Scholar
Smith, R. 1921. Hoards of Neolithic celts. Archaeologia 71 (1920–1), 113–24.Google Scholar
Tringham, R., Cooper, G., Odell, G.H., Voytek, B., & Whitman, A. 1974. Experimentation in the formation of edge damage: a new approach to lithic analysis. Journal of Field Archaeology 1, 171–96.Google Scholar
Wickham-Jones, C.R. & Collins, G.H. 1978. The sources of flint and chert in northern Britain. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 109, 721.Google Scholar
Wickham-Jones, C.R. & Mackenzie, J.R. 1996. An unusual lithic assemblage from Lunanhead, Angus. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 126, 116.Google Scholar
Wilson, G. 1881. Notes on a collection of implements and ornaments of stone, bronze, & from Glenluce, Wigtownshire. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquarie of Scotland 15 (1880–1) 262–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodman, P.C. 1967. A flint hoard from Killybeg. Ulster journal of Archaeology 30, 814.Google Scholar
Woodman, P.C. 1978. The Mesolithic in Ireland. Oxford: British Archaeological Report 58.Google Scholar
Woodman, P.C. 1992. Excavations at Mad Mans Window, Glenarm, Co. Antrim: problems of flint exploitation in East Antrim. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 58, 77106.Google Scholar
Woodman, P.C. & Johnson, G. 1996. Excavations at Bay Farm 1, Carnlough, Co. Antrim, and the study of the ‘Larnian’ technology. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 96C, 137235.Google Scholar
Yates, M.J. 1985. Restoration of the Cuilbane stone circle, Garvagh, County Londonderry, and the discovery of a cache of flints. Ulster Journal of Archaeology 48, 4150.Google Scholar