Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-pvkqz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-25T21:48:12.126Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Petrographic Analysis of Hammerstones from the Neolithic Quarries at Great Langdale

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2014

Richard Bradley  and
Roger Suthren
Richard Bradley
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Reading, Whiteknights, PO Box 218, Reading RG6 2AA
Roger Suthren
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Oxford Polytechnic, Gipsy Lane, Headington, Oxford OX3 0BP
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper examines the sources of the hammerstones imported to the Neolithic axe quarries on Pike o' Stickle. Two basic groups are identified, and these probably originated in separate areas of Cumbria. They have largely distinct distributions among the quarries, raising the possibility that different parts of the stone source could have been used by people coming from different areas of the surrounding lowlands. This has implications for the social importance of axe production on these sites.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 56 , 1990 , pp. 117 - 122
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bott, M. H. P. 1974. The geological interpretation of a gravity survey of the English Lake District and the Vale of Eden. Journal of the Geological Society of London 130, 309–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, R. 1984. The Social Foundations of Prehistoric Britain. Harlow: Longman.Google Scholar
Bradley, R. and Ford, S. 1986. The siting of Neolithic stone quarries — experimental archaeology at Great Langdale, Cumbria. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 5, 123–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, R. and Edmonds, M. 1988. Fieldwork at Great Langdale, Cumbria, 1985–1987: preliminary report. Antiquaries Journal 68, 181–209.Google Scholar
Bunch, B. and Fell, C. 1949. A stone axe factory at Pike o' Stickle, Great Langdale, Westmorland. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 15, 1–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Claris, P. and Quartermaine, J. 1989. The Neolithic quarries and axe-factory sites of Great Langdale and Scafell Pike: a new field survey. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 55, 1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ericson, J. 1984. Towards the analysis of lithic production systems. In Ericson, J. and Purdy, B. (eds), Prehistoric Quarries and Lithic Production, 1–9. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Firman, R. J. 1978. Intrusions. In Moseley, F. (ed.), The Geology of the Lake District, 146–63. Leeds: Yorkshire Geological Society.Google Scholar
Grimes, W. F. 1979. The history of implement petrology in Britain. In Clough, T. and Cummins, W. (eds), Stone Axe Studies, 1–4. London: Council for British Archaeology.Google Scholar
Manby, T. G. 1965. The distribution of rough-out ‘Cumbrian’ and related stone axes of Lake District origin in northern England. Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society 65, 1–37.Google Scholar
Millward, D., Moseley, F. and Soper, N. J. 1978. The Eycott and Borrowdale Volcanic rocks. In Moseley, F. (ed.). The Geology of the Lake District, 99–120. Leeds: Yorkshire Geological Society.Google Scholar
Moseley, F. 1983. The Volcanic Rocks of the Lake District. London: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pennington, W. 1970. Vegetational history in the north-west of England — a regional study. In Walker, D. and West, R. G. (eds), Studies in the Vegetational History of the British Isles, 41–80. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Plint, R. G. 1962. Stone axe factory sites in the Cumbrian fells. Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society 62, 1–26.Google Scholar
Torrence, R. 1986. Production and Exchange of Stone Tools. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar