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Description: | Worked axe tuff fragment of probable later Neolithic date (2500-2100 BC) which appears to be a roughout that was broken along the length during shaping and then probably discarded. The length is 195mm and the width 92mm. The axe is knapped from a light blueish/grey buff volcanic tuff. This axe like many of the larger and finished (polished) Langdale axes is sub-rectangular in plan with distinctive humped faces. The axe fragment bears a series of striking scars. It is impossible to source axes such as these without a detailed petrological analysis of the rock. This would allow the original source of the rock to be established. However the axe fragment was picked up many years ago on a walk on Great Langdale and the weathered colour of the tuff is typically similar to a number of axes in the collection of KendalMuseum and Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery, Carlisle, which have been petrographically tested as coming from the Langdale source (Group VI). This axe is similar to an axe currently held by the Dock Museum. Former accession number: 5324/7. Roughouts of axes were produced by flaking at source. The roughouts were then taken to polishing sites away from the central fells, often on the coast e.g. north Walney. Roughouts were finished by grinding them on selected stones, e.g. gritstones and sandstones.Roughouts are an intermediate stage; the roughout is shaped from a larger piece of rock. The next step, if the roughout appears suitable, can be fine flaking, grinding polishing the stone to create a polished axe. Roughouts, in this area, are typically made from stone taken from the Langdales and is usually dated to the Neolithic period. Roughouts are usually found within twenty kilometers of the stone source.This rock type is formed from compressed volcanic ash and has a fine grained composition with infrequent crystalline inclusions. Tuff is found in Britain and Ireland in a band that runs down the Irish Sea from the Lake District (the Langdale's source Group VI), County Antrim (Ireland), through North Wales (Graig Lwyd Group VII), and into Cornwall and Devon (Groups XVI and IV respectively). Volcanic tuff is similar to flint in that it can be finely worked, ground and polished to form a variety of tools; however axes are the most common find type and were used across Northern Europe during the Neolithic period.
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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