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Second Report of the Sub-Committee of the South-Western Group of Museums and Art Galleries on the Petrological Identification of Stone Axes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 May 2014

J. F. S. Stone  and
F. S. Wallis
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Extract

The first report of the Sub-Committee of the South-Western Group of Museums and Art Galleries on the petrological identification of stone axes was published in the Proceedings for 1941, vol. VII, 50–72. Appreciative comments concerning it were published in Museums Journal, vol. 42, 34, and Nature, 1942, 149, 275.

Membership of the Sub-Committee remains unchanged apart from the withdrawal of Dr R. Churchill Blackie and the addition of Mrs D. P. Dobson, LITT.D., M.A., F.S.A. (1945), Messrs C. K. Croft Andrew, F.S.A. and A. G. Madan, and Dr J. F. S. Stone (Honorary Secretary from 1946).

The activities of the Sub-Committee were naturally greatly restricted during the war, but a few axes were submitted and, although procedure was protracted, eventually examined.

Recently the Council for British Archaeology has received a report concerning cooperation of petrologists and archaeologists urging that the identification of stone axes should be raised from the regional to national level. The existing museum federations seemed admirably suited for implementing this policy and their co-operation has accordingly been secured. In future, therefore, the petrological activities of the South-Western Group will be strictly regional instead of embracing the whole of Britain.

The moment for this change seemed an appropriate one for the Sub-Committee to publish a second report briefly summarizing their work and also bringing to a close the first decade of its labours.

Once again thanks are extended to those private owners and trustees of public institutions who have willingly allowed the material in their possession or charge to be sectioned and so made these results possible. The Committee is again deepjy indebted to Mr E. D. Evens whose enthusiasm for, and interest in, the work has never waned and to whose meticulous examination of each thin section they owe much.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 13 , 1947 , pp. 47 - 55
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1947

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References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Corder, Philip. 1940. ‘Excavations at Elmswell, East Yorkshire, 1938.’ Hull Mus. Publ. No. 207, 1940, 55. Note by Miss Nancy Hey describes two stone axes from the excavations as made of a very fine grained volcanic ash, which she states ‘almost certainly came from the Lake District.’ Miss Hey considers that the material may have come from a local boulder clay.Google Scholar
Frere, S. S. 1943. Axe-hammer from Lodden, Norfolk,’ Ant. J., XXII, 1943, 154. An axe hammer from Lodden is described, and from a microscopic examination was stated to be made of basalt with abundance of the pyrozene pigeonite and a small amount of interstitial quartz. It is compared with an axe-head from Schleswig-Holstein of a similar type of basalt.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, H. St. George. 1943. ‘Stone Axe found at North Petherton, Somerset,’ Ant. J., XXII, 1943, 52. Describes a celt from Pilots' Helm, near North Petherton, which by macroscopic examination was seen to be a medium-grained, dark brownish-black igneous rock, though grinding and subsequent weathering rendered more exact identification impossible. Recently this axe has been sectioned (No. 227) and identified as a greenstone.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, J. Wilfrid. 1936. ‘Contributions to the Archaeology of the Manchester Region,’ Manchester Mus. Publ., No. III, reprinted from The North Western Naturalist, June 1936. The author refers to a number of celts found in the Manchester area, the majority of which he believes were made of greenish volcanic ash from the Lake District. Others were made of felspathic porphyry, dark green slate, and mottled greenstone. No suggestions regarding original provenance are made. Various other implements made of flint, sandstone, and quartzite are also recorded.Google Scholar
Lacaille, A. D. 1937A. ‘Scottish gravers of flint and other stones,’ P.S.A.S., LXXII, 1937–1938, 180. Records gravers of green chert from Tweedside, and near Dryburgh, Mertoun, Berwickshire; also a chisel-ended tool of jaspilite from Whitrighill, Mertoun.Google Scholar
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Lacaille, A. D. 1939B. ‘Aspects of Intentional Fracture,’ Trans. Glasgozv Arch. Soc., ix, 313. In a paper primarily concerned with fracture phenomena mention is made of some rocks other than flint used in the manufacture of Scottish artifacts. These macroscopic identifications include reddish and biotite-granite, diorite, epidiorite, mylonite, green schist, lamprophyre, Arran pitchstone, basalt, porphyry, quartz felsite, crinoidal limestone, sandstone and quartz. Axes Nos. 229 and 230 from Luss, Dumbartonshire, are figured as No. 1 and No. 2 respectively on Fig. 2 and are now included in Group IX.Google Scholar
McIntyre, James. 1937. ‘Four polished stone axes,’ Cumberland and Westmorland Ant. and Arch. Soc. Trans., XXXVII, 152. The author describes three axes from Belmont, near Penrith, and one from Keswick. The former are stated to be made of greenstone and the latter of Scawfell fine tuff from the Lake District. No microscopic investigation of these axes was carried out.Google Scholar
Shotton, F. W. 1937. ‘Stone Implements of Warwickshire,’ Trans. Birmingham Arch. Soc., LVIII, 1934, 37. Describes flint and quartzite implements of Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and ‘Neolithic’ age; an implement found at Gibbet Hill, Coventry, from the Graig Lwyd factory; a celt from Curdworth of fine green igneous rock; and other implements with rather indefinite petrological characters. The axe from Curdworth has been examined by this Sub-Committee (No. 176) and has been placed in Group VI (Stake Pass).Google Scholar
Wright, J. A. 1935. A Graig Llwyd Celt from Gibbet Hill,’ Proc. Coventry Nat. Hist, and Sci. Soc., 1, 116. As a result of macroscopic investigations by British Museum officials and Mr Hazzledine Warren, this celt is stated definitely to have emanated from the Graig Lwyd factory.Google Scholar