The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons and Ornaments, of Great Britain: Second Edition, RevisedEvans, John
History
The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons and Ornaments, of Great Britain: Second Edition, Revised
Evans, John
Great Britain -- Antiquities; Stone age -- Great Britain
Fig. 136 presents a rather more elaborate form, which is, however,
partly due to that of the flat oval quartzite pebble from which this
axe-hammer was made. The hammer-end seems to preserve the form of
the pebble almost intact; it is, however, slightly flattened at the
extremity. The original is preserved in the Greenwell Collection, and
was found in a cist at Seghill,[742] near Newcastle, in 1866. The
bones, by which it was no doubt originally accompanied, had entirely
gone to decay. A Scotch example, made of basalt, the sides of which are
much more concave, is shown in Fig. 136A, kindly lent by the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland. It was found at Wick,[743] Caithness.
[Illustration: Fig. 136A.—Wick, Caithness. 1∕2]
It was an axe-head somewhat of the character of Fig. 136, but sharper
at the hammer-end, that was found in an urn, near Broughton in Craven,
in 1675, and with it a small bronze dagger (with a tang and single
rivet hole) and a hone. It is described and figured by Thoresby.[744]
Hearne[745] regarded it as Danish. It is described as of speckled
marble polished, 6 inches long and 3 1∕2 inches broad, with the edge
at one end blunted by use. A nearly similar form (4 1∕2 inches) has
occurred in Shetland.[746] What appears to be an unbored axe of this
kind is in the Powysland Museum.[747] |209|
A still greater elaboration of form is exhibited in Fig. 137, from
an implement found at Kirklington, Yorkshire, and in the Greenwell
Collection. It is of basalt, worked to a flat oval at the hammer-end,
and to a curved cutting edge at the other. The two sides are ground
concave, and the shaft-hole is nearly parallel. This axe-hammer is of
larger size than usual when of this form, being 8 inches in length.
[Illustration: Fig. 137.—Kirklington. 1∕2]
Nearly similar weapons have been frequently found in barrows. |210|
One such, of greenstone, about 4 inches long, was found by the late
Mr. Charles Warne, F.S.A., in a barrow at Winterbourn Steepleton, near
Dorchester, associated with burnt bones. He has given a figure[748] of
it, which, by his kindness, I here reproduce, as Fig. 138. Another (4
inches) was found in a barrow at Trevelgue,[749] Cornwall, in 1872.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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