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Description: | Greenstone (dolerite or epidiorite) hammer, ovoid in plan and in profile, slightly expanded at one end, and likely made from a local beach cobble. Both faces has been ground down to a flatter, smoother surface, but neither looks well used. The wear on it may instead be the beginnings of working it into an axe or adze, as it was found close to a rough-out for an axe. The rounded ends could both have been used as striking surfaces, and there are a few pot marks on the wider end, but only slight wear on the narrower end. There are also several plough marks over both of the flat surfaces of the muller. Similar examples can be found throughout Cornwall and are difficult to date, though they are mostly prehistoric. This one is likely Neolithic in date as it was found with other diagnostic stone tools from this period. Ashbee (1996) illustrates a similar example from Halangy Down on St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly, which he suggests might have been used as a limpet hammer or for pulverising grit for tempering potter's clay or for woodworking, on page 101, Fig.48, No.10, which was used in infill between Iron Age buildings and so must pre-date them. Certainly limpet hammers were used from Mesolithic times.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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