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
In the collection formed by Canon Greenwell is one found at Coves
Houses, Wolsingham, Durham (3 1∕2 inches), and another of quartzite
(4 1∕2 inches), with both ends battered, from Mildenhall Fen. He
discovered another of small size, only 2 1∕4 inches in length, with the
perforation not |230| more than 7∕16 inch in diameter in the centre,
in the soil of a barrow at Rudstone,[815] near Bridlington.
The late Mr. H. Durden, of Blandford, had two fragments of these
hammers, made from quartzite pebbles, one of them from Hod Hill,
Dorset, and the other from the same neighbourhood. A perforated oval
boulder of chert was also found near Marlborough.[816]
Both round and oval hammer-stones are in the Leicester Museum.[817]
One (6 1∕2 inches) was found at Doddenham, Worcestershire, and
others (3 3∕8 inches) at Silverdale,[818] Torver,[819] and elsewhere
in Lancashire.[820] A large specimen (8 inches) was found at Abbey
Cwm Hir,[821] Radnorshire, and a small one near Rhayader,[822]
Montgomeryshire. A circular example (4 1∕4 inches), with a very small
central hole, was discovered in Pembrokeshire.[823] Quartzite pebbles
converted into hammer-heads occur also in Scotland. The hole in one
from Pitlochrie[824] is only 1∕8 inch in diameter at its centre. In one
from Ythanside, Gight,[825] Aberdeenshire (4 3∕4 inches), it is only
1∕4 inch.
Besides quartzite and silicious pebbles, these hammer-heads were made
from fragments of several other rocks. The Rev. S. Banks had one of
greenstone, 5 3∕4 inches by 3 1∕4 inches, found at Mildenhall. A
disc of dolerite[826] (4 inches) with convex faces and perforated
in the centre in the usual manner, was found at Caer Leb, in the
parish of Llanidan, Anglesea. Several hammer-stones of this kind were
obtained by the late Hon. W. O. Stanley, M.P., in his researches in
the Island of Holyhead.[827] One of them, now in the British Museum,
is of trap, 4 1∕2 inches long and 3 inches broad, somewhat square at
the ends; another is of schist, 3 3∕8 inches long, and much thinner
in proportion. Both were found at Pen-y-Bonc. A fragment of a third,
formed of granite (?), was found at Ty Mawr, in the same island. One
of granite (?)[828] was found at Titsey Park, Surrey. A small one
of “light grey burr stone,” 2 3∕8 inches in diameter, was found at
Haydock,[829] near Newton, Lancashire. I have a subquadrate example (4
inches) of felsite, from Belper, Derbyshire. The Scottish specimens are
often of other materials than quartzite. A circular “flailstone,” found
at Culter, Lanarkshire, has been figured,[830] but the material is not
stated. The same is the case with an oval one, 4 inches long, found
near Longman,[831] Macduff, Banff; another from Forfarshire;[832] and a
third, 4 inches by 3 inches, from Alloa.[833]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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