Stone Resources and Implements in Prehistoric Ireland: A Review STONE RESOURCES AND IMPLEMENTS IN PREHISTORIC IRELAND: A REVIEW Dyfed, Wales SY23 4SR

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Stone Resources and Implements in Prehistoric Ireland: A Review Author(s): C. Stephen Briggs Source: Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Third Series, Vol. 51 (1988), pp. 5-20Published by: Ulster Archaeological SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20568109Accessed: 13-04-2015 07:46 UTC

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Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 51, 1988,

STONE RESOURCES AND IMPLEMENTS IN PREHISTORIC IRELAND: A REVIEW

by C. STEPHEN BRIGGS (Pwlldrainllwyn, Trefenter, Llangwyryfon, nr Aberystwyth,

Dyfed, Wales SY23 4SR)

The concept of an Irish stone axe trade is considered. 'Factories', hoards, ''roughouts', polishing stones and stone axe groups from excavations are discussed. Almost all can be

explained in terms of permanent habitations and domestic production from local resources. The implement-making potential of erratic-derived stone is examined in some

detail. The erratic content of the Irish Drift in Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales is

explained. It is concluded that insufficient is known about the availability and p?trogra phie identity of erratics to enable useful comparisons to be made with results from

implement p?trographie investigations. Until systematic sampling of re-cycled rock has been undertaken, caution is due in interpreting axe distribution patterns purely in

anthropogenic terms.

INTRODUCTION

'In material the stone celts afford examples of

nearly every description of rock found in Ire

land suited for the purpose, by its hardness,

toughness, absence of brittleness, and suscepti

bility of polish . . . And as these objects have

been found in such abundance, and in so many localities, the celt-maker must have been

dependent on the suitable stone of his particular district for the materials of his trade. As yet, all

the specimens which have turned up are formed

of native, and mostly of rocks common in Ire

land. The antiquary seldom possesses a suffi

ciently accurate knowledge (even if such were

required) of all these stones, to be able to

arrange them either lithologically or topogra

phically' (Wilde 1957, 38-9).

Trading and gift-exchanging are concepts com

monly employed by prehistorians to explain the

movement of stone or of implements from pri

mary rock occurrence to human group, or simply between one social group and another. Many British examples appear in Clough and Cummins

(1979) and Sheridan (1986) followed this interpre tation in her recent review of Irish porcellanite

implements. Until Sheridan's study, Irish axes

appeared not to have attracted the same sys tematic investigation as their British counterparts, and Jope's (1952) joint study with Preston, Morey and Sabine, supplemented by Rynne's of 1963 and

1964, was for long the only introduction.

Sheridan's work has now been joined by a

p?trographie and distributional study of other

lithologies including Antrim baked shales, begun

by Dr J. Preston in 1958 (Francis et al 1988). It is

the purpose of this paper to set the subject in a

broader historic and geological perspective and

explore in greater detail the alternative possibility of local implement production.

Current arguments for an Irish stone axe trade are based upon:

1. The existence of 'factory' or workshop sites. 2. An assumption that 'factory' sites are the

organised response to an absence of suitable

axe-making material outside the primary rock

exposure, and, furthermore, the unlikelihood

that 'factory' rock travelled considerable dis tances through natural processes.

3. The belief that unpolished axes or 'roughouts1 were either culturally or functionally undesi

rable as worktools, or such implements were

otherwise chronologically earlier and must

have been confined to the Mesolithic.

4. The belief that the location of polishing stones

bears a direct industrial connection with the

process of finishing factory 'products'. The

discovery of axe hoards, both finished and

unfinished, also relates to this factor.

5. The technique of petrographically matching thin sections of far-travelled implements with

bedrock.

These premises will be scrutinised, mainly

through published accounts of non-flint

implements. The history of trading theories and implement

5



investigation in nineteenth century Ireland has an

important contribution to make to an evaluation

of current attitudes. Such a historical account will

therefore be presented elsewhere (Briggs unpub

lished). Nevertheless, attention might usefully be

drawn to changing terminologies and how these

currently affect notions of primitive 'trade'

(Briggs 1988, 305). This paper is, however,

limited to a consideration of two major aspects of

study: the implements and their production; and

some geological problems of their study.

STONE IMPLEMENTS: PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION

This section is an account of: (1) the axe 'factor

ies1; (2) axe hoards and polishing stones in Ulster,

and (3) axes from excavations elsewhere

in Ireland.

Rathlin Island (Fig. 1)

Although the name of Knowles is inextricably bound up with the discovery of implement work

shops, it is to William Gray that we owe the first

apparent sighting of a 'manufactory' in Ireland. A

good decade before Knowles claimed to know

Tievebulliagh, Gray:

described the site of an ancient factory of rough

trap-celts, discovered on Rathlin Island, where

a considerable number of roughly-chipped

unpolished celts of trap or basalt were found,

together with a quantity of chips, indicating that

at this spot there had been an ancient manufac

tory of stone celts (Gray 1887, 506).

The 'celts' to which Gray alluded are now in the

Ulster Museum (Mus. no. 1013/30). According to

Prof. P. C. Woodman:

One should really be described as a retouched

flake, the others are partially polished speci mens. Two are complete roughouts with very

slight traces of polish on the tops of the ridge while the other is a rather amorphous specimen. This last specimen could be a portion of a

reworked polished axe. It is the only one not

marked as 'Rathlin from Glass [? (illeg.)] (P. C. Woodman pers comm.).

J porcellanite outcrop V*. (^ * O o

^ <5*r BroekleyFarm Ballinagard td L

O chipping Door / I

Rathlin Island V of

Fig. 1. Prehistoric stone chipping sites on Rathlin Island, showing the porcellanite outcrop.



There are a further "roughed out porcellanite axe . . . two porcellanite flakes and eight flint

scrapers from near Brockley Farm, Rathlin Island' donated by Dr S. A. Agrell to the Cam

bridge University Museum (Mus. Nos. 53, 103). The site of Gray's 'manufactory' is not

recorded. Knowles lamented his inability 'to find

anyone who had done more than bring away one or two select specimens' (1906, 383). He only acquired one axe, a partly polished example 10-7cm. long, 6-5cm. wide at the blade and 3-0cm.

wide at the butt, its cortex face badly damaged and

large flakes missing from much of the surface. The axe is now in the National Museum of Ireland

(N.M.I. 1927: 357). In 1931, Baudoin and Whelan described two half-polished axes from the island, and in 1934, when reviewing the Irish 'Campig nian Question1, Whelan drew attention to

Knowles's work at Tievebulliagh (Whelan 1934a,

129), then described his own excavations at Bally nagard, Rathlin Island (pp 130-143). He was

anxious to list all implement types represented at the site. This included many of flint as well as of

porcellanite. Every flint implement type had been

reproduced there and many specialised tools were

exclusively of this medium (p. 135). A number of

picks were illustrated, which, though generally

unpolished, might have been classed as "roughouf axes. Their excavator felt some showed wear con

sistent with digging in the chalk for flint, while

others were too well preserved to have been used as hafted implements. Many implements were

certainly worn, though whether in flint mining or

through agricultural activities is not clear. Blake

Whelan's material is now in the National Museum

(N.M.I. 1935, 360-69; 1936, 864-92; 894-5; 903

and 905) and obviously requires re-examination.

The proportion of flint used was roughly equal to that of porcellanite. Amongst both there was a

high proportion of utilised material (p. 138),

giving the impression of an industry not producing

surplus tools, but one based upon domestic

requirements. Later discoveries at Ballynagard shed little fresh light on the matter (Whelan 1935) and in his analysis of the site Movius concluded it

to have been 'an occupation site related to the

Western Neolithic cultures', and added, more

speculatively, that it probably represented a camp site connected with the axe factory at Brockley

(1942, 231), 'one of two great axe factory sites'

(p. 262).

Subsequent research on the island can be sum

marised briefly. In 1936, Hewson published several groups of potsherds from near Ushet

Lough (O.S. D 15 48), accompanied by a stone

axe probably of porcellanite (Hewson 1936,

166-7). Later, E, E. Evans visited the site and

picked up 'many flakes of flint and Rathlin blue

stone, two roughly chipped blue-stone celts,

several beach pebbles, some . . . burnt and others used as hammer-stones with pieces of sandstone and numerous small sherds of Neolithic tvpe' (Evans 1945, 24-5).

These lists of Rathlin discoveries are unlikely to

be expanded significantly by searches through old collections. Sales and donations to the National

Museum from collectors other than those already mentioned are not numerous. Five axes, described as trimmed, chipped and ready for

polishing, came from Henry Morris (N.M.L 1941:

616-20); J. H. D?laye gave'another in 1925 (1925: 7); Donald Hunt one in 1933 (1933; 42); two more came from the D'Eveivn Collection in 1934 (1934:

4262-3) and two from Hugh Kirk in 1936 (1936: 2650-1). It is unclear how many of these are of

flint, how many of metamorphic rock. But in total the flint and metamorphic stone axe population of

the island does not seem to exceed fifty specimens. The question now arises: what type of site wTere

these? Were they settlement sites producing implements for local consumption, as Whelan

believed, or were they more exclusively of an

industrial and commercial nature as hinted by

Gray and Movius? Flint implements, even of

beach or glacial pebble, are as common at exca

vated sites as are those of porcellanite (Whelan 1935, 108). So scavenged material seems to have

had an importance for the occupants. The sum of, at most, fifty axes, both polished

and flaked, is not large for an island upon which

three or four Neolithic settlement sites have been

excavated and where collectors (and some

forgers) have been active for well over a century. The contact zone upon the dolerite plug in Brock

ley townland is no more than 15*0 m. in diameter

(Dawson 1951, 159). No workshops are known

from its immediate neighbourhood, and on a visit

to the locality in 1972 the writer experienced

difficulty in recognising porcellanite even in walls

close to the outcrop. Nevertheless, the impression to be gained from

the literature (for example Jope 1952, 37; Rynne

1964; Herity and Eogan 1974, 37; Mitchell 1981 and Sheridan 1986) is of sufficient evidence for a

large prehistoric axe factory, or at least of exten

sive working floors, close to or upon the dolerite

contact zone in Brockley townland, to justify the

postulated production of Neolithic implements for export in some quantity.

The sum of field and excavation evidence sug

gests a different interpretation: on Rathlin, pre historic domestic axe needs were satisfied through the use of re-cycled stones. Because the vernacu

lar meaning of the term 'manufactory' has

changed since Gray first described his finds over a

century ago, its present day use in the same

archaeological context is unfortunate. The type of

site known from Rathlin Island falls into a general

7



settlement category defined by Wilde, Benn and

the younger Knowles, and is one in which dom

estic lithic assemblages reflected local materials.

Axe-working sites in the Tievebulliagh Area

and on the Antrim Plateau

On the E. side of Tievebulliagh, an almost per

pendicular rock face, W. J. Knowles noted very extensive implement working, particularly in a

large basal talus (1906, 384). Working sites

appeared to litter the mountain foot where some

even yielded flint, though this was scarce in com

parison to the 'dark metamorphic rock'. Knowles'

account included a good deal which has since gone

neglected. It is therefore worth quoting at some

length:

In Glen Ballyemon, several varieties of rock

were used for axes, but the kind which was most

in favour was a close-grained rock of blueish

colour, which, as far as I can find, is not native

to the district. Metamorphic rocks do occur in

the valley but I have not as yet observed this

close-grained blueish rock anywhere in situ. It

always appears in the form of boulders, which

show glacial striae.

On the top of Tievebulliagh, I found boulders

of the blueish rock firmly embedded in the

boulder clay, and in cases where the axe-makers

could not excavate them, they chipped such

parts as remained above ground. We find that

when a boulder was too heavy to be removed

they endeavoured to break it up, though I have

seen some boulders which have resisted their

efforts. There is a fine large piece of this rock

weighing several hundredweight in front of Mr

James Quinn's house, which has had many flakes and spalls removed from it and now with its weathered browny appearance, it looks

more like a lump of metal than a stone. I think it is likely that this rock may have been brought by glaciers from Scotland, since we do not find it in

situ. Boulders of Ailsa Craig rock are found in various parts of County Antrim, and it was

recently found in boulder clay as far inland as

Ballymena. It is therefore not improbable that the other rock may be of Scottish origin (Know les 1903a, 363).

Knowles never actually appreciated that por cellanite outcropped there. This is hardly sur

prising as the exposure is not great in extent,

measuring approximately 30 feet (10m.) horizon

tally and about 10 feet (3?0m.) vertically (Agrell and Langley 1958, 98).

Unpolished axes were noted from various loca

lities, and a group of 16 had been found in a hollow in a peat bog in Dirnaveagh (O.S. D 09 08), which

Jope (1952, 39) suggested had been roughouts.

The area in which trie working ttoors Have been

recognised covers several square kilometres.1

Randomly scattered erratic boulders on the

mountaintop plateau from which he observed

implements had been struck were already rapidly

disappearing through agricultural improvement.

By the time Agrell and Langley visited the area

half a century later, so complete had been field

clearance of surface stone that, in common with

Sheridan (1986, 28), they concluded prehistoric man would have needed to carry his raw porcell anite and flint to the W. of the site, rather than rely

upon ice-borne erratic material which had for

merly! been both so conspicuous and so copious

(Agrell and Langley 1958, 97). By ignoring former widespread implement

workshops based upon erratic boulders, the rela

tive importance of the Tievebulliagh talus to early

implement production has been exaggerated in

recent studies (for example Jope and Preston 1952

passim). But it must also be emphasised that many

workshops produced artifact mixtures of flint and

varieties of hard stone, and these assemblages could be taken as indications of permanent prehis toric settlement. Knowles felt that:

the various sites of manufacture were deter

mined by the places in which these (erratic) boulders were dropped, as the people appear to have sat down around these stones and manu

factured them into axes, rather than carry the

heavy boulders to any particular place. There are other rocks of a coarser grain which have

been used in making axes (Knowles 1906, 385).

It was observed how the coarser material dic

tated the employment of a 'pecking' rather than a

flaking technique. In 1903 three or four times the

number of unground axes collected were polished

(Knowles 1903b, 7). By 1906 this proportion had fallen to a more precise ten percent (about 240) of the total number of axes recovered, though 'partly ground' implements were in this case included in

the total of 'polished' tools' (Knowles 1906, 386

and 391). The range of tool-types represented was very

wide, including tanged and barbed arrowheads

(Knowles et al 1899, fig. opp. p. 438). D. V.

Clarke has recently described similar finds from W. Scotland (1968-9) which may have been produced from Scottish drift deposits of Irish origin (see below p. 16). In all, Knowles noted implement workshops scattered throughout more than a

dozen townlands; at only one site was a primary rock exposure exploited.

In 1986 Sheridan collected porcellanite artifacts from fields in the Glenleslie area. Her observa tions seem to confirm Knowles's view that 'local

axe-working traditions had been based upon erra

tic cobbles. She observed that artifacts collected

8



if A La?d td ? / / Ttrkilly id /

vJ^* Lubitavish td ^*^ r ^>^GIenaan

td ^S. /

^*r 0 Sl CtSHIMIAU 1

J Cloghs td J^ )

/tievebulliagh ^?^

l

/ factory (j /^ / /

"" S^ i

\ J megalith or cairn ? f

Fig. 2. Megalithic sites near the Tievebulliagh porcellanite outcrop.

from Tullykittagh Td by L. M. Hewson during the 1930s, now in the National Museum of Ireland

(for example 1933:2964) also look 'as though they were made from cobbles' (Sheridan 1986, 28).

Axe working and settlement on the

Antrim plateau: discussion

Study of settlement distributions suggests that

during the Neolithic populations were slowly driven onto the Antrim plateau, where megaliths are still common (Watson 1956), possibly by land

hunger. Pollen analysis shows widespread Neo

lithic clearances in this region (Goddard 1971) for which large numbers of stone axes would have

been necessary. Other than 'axe factories' (which are actually

undated from excavation), what indications

remain of Neolithic settlement in the Tievebull

iagh area? If indications do exist, do they suggest

permanent or transitory settlement? How many finished axes and hoes would a small Neolithic

dynasty be expected to produce and use in the

processes of near-total forest clearance and in

subsequent arable farming? Using Knowles' data

from Tievebulliagh, we must strive to make a

balanced judgement. Five megaliths are recorded in the townlands

immediately surrounding Tievebulliagh.2 These

were presumably Neolithic or at latest Early Bronze Age in date. Such a density of burial

monuments strongly hints at permanent settle

ment, probably in the form of small territorially defined communities practising subsistence

farming. Given that the megalith-building community is

the most likely group to have 'exploited' the

resource of the axe 'factory', in what quantities

might such a social group have been expected to

produce reject or finished tools? Most of Knowles'

implement workshops are lost without trace; only scree is now recognisable. No site was ever exca

vated scientifically; no date or culture sequence has been obtained from the locality. Even Tieve

9



bulliagh's cultural relationship to the neighbour

ing burial sites is quite unknown and the influence

of its products upon the inception of local blanket

peat, if it existed, has not been established by excavation. On the basis of implement typology alone, exploitation of the rock there could have

spanned a period from the Mesolithic-Neolithic

transition until well into the Bronze Age. With a

period of local settlement covering up to 3,000

years, the presence of as many as 2,500 reject

implements from a dozen or more different settle

ments scattered over a terrain tens of kilometres

square may not be an unreasonably large total.

Only some ten percent of Knowles' axes

showed signs of polish tentatively indicative of

use. No experiments have been undertaken to

gauge the fissility of the porcellanite as an axe

making medium, but a wastage rate of nine times the size of the end product could well be a reason

able one, accepting that in Neolithic times there

must have been a seemingly inexhaustible supply of the raw material. Even without excavation at

the workshops, Knowles1 axe sample is probably the most useful yet available for any upland axe

workshop in the British Isles. Experiments using both scree and boulder debris would be of great value in testing this proposed wastage rate.

It is just as likely that the inhabitants of Glen

ballyemon used erratics of any hard rock as that

they concentrated specifically on exposures of

porcellanite. Although there is also quarrying at

Langdale, a similar pattern of boulder exploi tation is documented in Cumbria, where screes

form only one component of local axe-making traditions; Clough showed that a good proportion of implement workshops were associated with erratic boulders which usually lay at some distance from the outcropping rock (Clough 1973).

The existence of these sites were not felt to have been an indicator of prehistoric trade, though Knowles raised the question of commerce both in 1874 and 1906 (Knowles 1874; 1906). Whilst speculating that the best axes may have been 'carried down the valley for polishing' (1930a,

362-3), he was not tempted to suggest (cf Jope 1952) that any were transported to the Bann

Valley for finishing, nor did he connect 'factory' sites with axe-polishing stones.

Besides his inland 'manufactories', Knowles'

explorations produced many coastal sites, or 'flint manufactories'. Like the Antrim plateau sites, those at the Dundrum dunes, for example, pro duced a wide variety of rock types (Knowles 1881,

110). Both littoral and inland sites he saw as almost certainly having been domestic chipping floors.

On these sandhill sites, permanence of dom estic settlement seems to be further indicated by the presence of burials (for example, Collins 1977,

22). Seen in the light of cumulative antiquarian,

palaeoecological and geological considerations, it

is now possible to re-interpret the Antrim plateau

implement 'manufactories' in terms of local

exploitation carried out from permanent settle

ment sites of the Neolithic-Early Bronze Age.

'Roughout' Axes

A key part of the belief in implement export relies

upon the role of flaked or 'roughout' axes, finds

which are considered to have been goods in transit

to the polishing process.

But, writing in 1897, Sir John Evans noted:

there are some which are roughly chipped and

which may possibly have been used as agricul tural implements without further preparation, and others, the edges of which are so minutely and symmetrically chipped that they appear to

be adapted for use as hatchets or cutting tools

without requiring to be further sharpened by

grinding (Evans 1897, 67). Evans' account was based upon observations by

contemporary writers (for example Anderson

1886, 382). Since Evans' day, few unpolished Neolithic axes have been closely examined and

published. The only study known to the writer is

that of H. Swainson Cowper (1934). Cowper drew

attention to the high probability that flake axes

had been used as utility artifacts in the same way as had polished examples. An investigation of the

findspots, surface morphology and wear upon a

number of Cumbrian flaked axes concludes that

unpolished axes cannot be proven to have been axes 'in transit' (Briggs 1978 and forthcoming).

Published observations of axes from the Rathlin

sites give the impression that these, too, are

implements polished or worn with use.

The co-existence of both polished and un

polished axes may be explained geologically.

'Roughouts' may not be partially made polished ashes, but flake axes used unpolished as an altern

ative to polished axes. These flake axes seem to occur more frequently near outcrops than further

away. This is because they are of fissile stone which was broken up by glaciation rather than

transported any distance. Polished axes are made of tougher, less fissile rock, more likely to be

carried as cobbles or large pebbles by glaciers or

other natural processes (Briggs 1978; 1982 and

forthcoming).

Through ignoring this argument, and by failing to take seriously either the potential of the super ficial deposits or the wear-marks on 'flake axes', or

to experiment with primary or recycled rock,

prehistorians are at present forcing the limited

archaeological evidence to fit socio-economic

theory.

10



Stone Axe Hoards and Axe polishing stones in Ulster

HOARDS

Several hoards of stone axes have been found some distance from the 'factory' sites. They are considered good evidence for implement trading both in Ireland and in Britain. In 1952 Jope listed three from Ulster (Jope 1952,39). Knowles (1912)

mentioned one from Dirnaveagh (O.S. D 09 08) comprising 16 'rude' axes recovered from a hollow in the peat; in the absence of more precise details about the circumstances of discovery, caution is due in its interpretation. Similar difficulties sur round an acceptance of the three unpolished axes from Armoy now in the Ashmolean Museum.

There appears to be no primary documentation to

prove that they came from a closed find, and these also may have been a collector's group (pace Jope 1952, fig. 4 no. 5 and p. 39).

The best-known 'hoard', from Danesfort, Bel fast is believed to have comprised eighteen speci

mens (Armstrong 1918, 84; Jope 1952, 53; Sheridan 1986, 23), but this also merits a closer

inspection. The find was mentioned by William

Gray in 1872. First, a single 'rough celt' had been discovered in 1869. Subsequently, two polished axes were found in 1872. These were soon to be followed by a further fourteen others (cf. Herity and Eogan (1976, 45) where the figure of ten specimens is given for the original discovery).

These were 'standing on end in the sand with the

edges turned upwards' all within an area about

eight feet square. Whilst in Gray's (or later, in

Lawlor's possession), they appear to have been

joined by a further couple of examples to make up

Armstrong's total of 19 (1918, 84). The axes'

unusual configuration in the ground may have

represented ritual deposition. Alternatively, all

may have been domestic rejects or 'used' imple ments thrown into the same waste sump. Unfortu

nately, no axe hoards have been discovered

through scientific excavation in recent years. None has been found outside the area in which

Tievebulliagh procellanite, or other similar

material of Antrim origin, is an extremely com

mon component of local drift deposits

(Charlesworth 1939, fig. 2; see below p. 15). So far as concerns the Dirnaveagh find, it is

important to ask why an artisan should abandon

such a large group of unfinished axes. Knowles

believed the craftsman of the Culbane, Bann

Valley group (Jope 1952,39; comprising two por cellanite axes and four others), had probably been

prevented from finishing off the job by a river flood (1912, 219). All these finds may have been intended for local domestic use. Ritual or dom

estic deposition of any domestic 'good' may well

have been more a statement relating to the func tion of the buried implement, or one of supernatu ral association or perception, than an act concerned with 'trade' involving 'middlemen" {cf.

Houlder 1976, 60-61).

POLISHING STONES

The dispersal and polishing of 'factory products' has been linked with the discovery of polishing stones, particularly in the Bann Valley. Knowles claimed to own around twenty such stones ( 1912,

218-19), but from his collection's catalogue (Anon., 1924) and from his explanation that some had been whetstones (Knowles 1903b, 10), it seemed more likely he was thinking of small bur nishers than large hollow stones. In 1952, Jope could plot only two findspots (Culbane and New

ferry) for four large sandstone polishers, these discoveries coming from just to the N. of Lough Beg (Jope 1952, fig. 3,37). Five further findspots and several more finds can now be added to the list

(Table 1; Fig. 3). Wilfred Jackson described several examples in

Manchester Museum. These included whet

stones, grindstones and a 'grain rubber* from

'near Portglenone'. All could have been intended

for axe polishing (1909, 13-14). Woodman noted (1979, 116) that polishing

stones may equally have been used for grinding

vegetable matter and that all axes associated with

known examples of polishing stone had been of

schists, not of porcellanite. In fact the distribution

of Knowles' stone rubbers appears to reflect more

Fig. 3. Distribution of stone implement

working sites and axe polishing stones in NE.

Ireland. Key: 1, implement working floors; 2, axe

polishing stones. Scale: 50km grid squares.

11



TABLE 1

Stone Axe Rubbers and Associated Axes

O.S

Bushfoot Td, Co. Antrim C 93 42

Cuilbane Td, Co. Derry C 82 13

Bann Valley, Ballvneasmacpeake Td, Co. Derry' C 96 01

Newferry Td, Co. Antrim H 99 97

Culbane Td, Co. Antrim C 97 00

Ballyclosh Td, Co. Antrim D 07 02

Culbane Td, Co. Antrim C 97 00

Portglenone Td, Co. Antrim C 97 03

Present whereabouts Publication

Ulster Mus. 1934: 150 a & b Flanagan 1960, 55 1936: 59 a & b ibid.

? lost R.I.A. MS 30/V(3) p. 44 N.M.I. Movius 1935-7, 17-30 ? N.M.I. Knowles 1912, 218-19 Lost Knowles 1903b, 10

Manchester Mus. (5 specimens) Jackson 1909, 13-14 ibid., p. 16

the currency of polished clay-slate than of porcell anite axes (Knowles 1912, 211-219).

Another polishing stone is mentioned in the

Ordnance Survey Memoirs for County Derry, found in the 1830s and briefly noted by Woodman

(1979,116). This was found associated with three

polished stone axes some 20 feet deep in a bog.

Although polishing stones have been recog nised outside Ulster in the South of Ireland (see below and Woodman 1979, 116), In Scot land (Callander 1933) and in Wales (Britnell 1984), the additional examples noted here under

line a localised, Bann Valley grouping. Knowles did not associate flaked porcellanite

axes with polishing stones from the Bann Valley

(1902, 3, 6 and passim). Polishing, he felt, had

been effected near Tievebulliagh using local sand stones in and around Glenballyemon (1903b, 9;

1906,392-3). These finds suggest more a domestic than an industrial function, in which axes could

have been re-polished or sharpened, as Flanagan notes (1960, 55).

In the North stone axe polishing stones are

distributed in an area almost exclusive of recorded

Neolithic flake axe working floors (Jope 1952, fig. 3, p. 37, p. 39). Only one Culbane polisher (Ulster

Mus. 59?196) is associated with porcellanite

implements, and indeed it remains possible that the average lump of sandstone did not contain a

sufficiently high proportion of carborundum,

quartz or other abrasive to have been capable of

cutting that rock, Porcellanite was probably more

often locally polished using quartz-rich sands, or

with small hand-held hone stones.

Our current knowledge of axe polishing stones seems insufficient to suggest anything more than a

slight possibility of association with the putative Antrim axe 'trade'. A search of published accounts offers the alternative explanation of use in culinary preparation or in repair of polished blades (Collins in Smith and Collins 1971, 15).

Stone Axe Groups from excavations outside

Ulster and non-porcellanite axes

Stone axes are found in large numbers throughout Ireland, but most come from surface collections.

Few have been examined petrographically. The

best described groups have been excavated in the

last four decades. The general tendency is for

Neolithic industries to be based upon local stones.

For example, at Townley Hall, the raw material

was 'in the main derived from local glacial

deposits' (Eogan 1961, 43); at Dalkey, Liversage concluded that the beach provided the stone for

the 23 axes, as it had the flint for small tools, and

argued that the six 'axe polishing' stones showed

that the axes were polished on site (1968,95-6 and

146-7); at Feltrim Hill, Jackson tentatively attri

buted 15 out of 22 fragments to local exposures (in Hartnett and Eogan 1964, 35-6). Only at Lough Gur did the excavator believe porcellanites and

'greenstones' had been imported to the site by man (O'Riordain 1954, 405).

THE RAW MATERIALS: COUNTRY ROCK AND GLACIAL MOVEMENT

The major impediment to an acceptance of local erratic exploitation for axes remains the belief that erratics of the same or similar stone do not occur in the places where the axes are found. If records of such erratics do exist, they have been

rejected as insufficient in quantity or in quality.

The collection of erratics in Ireland: the Northeast

As elsewhere in the British Isles, the collection and examination of erratics was undertaken in Ireland during a limited part of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It was then felt that

multidirectional patterns of ice dispersal might

12



easily be recognised and related to stratigraphie evidence within the drift.

No p?trographie definitions then existed for

many of the stones from which axes were later found to have been made; for example although

Gran ville Cole and H.H. Thomas had both exam ined artifactual material from the Tievebulliagh and Rathlin areas in 1903 (Knowles 1903a) and 1934 (Whelan 1935) respectively, it was not until 1940 that S. I. Tomkeieff found in situ porcellanite at Tievebulliagh, and it was eleven years later

when J. Dawson described the Brockley dolerite

plug (references in Jope 1952). It is therefore

hardly surprising (pace Sheridan 1986, 28) that such a discrete outcrop as Tievebulliagh porcell anite was not marked on contemporary nine teenth century sheets produced by the Geological Survey.

In NE. Ireland the study of erratics was largely orchestrated by the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club

(henceforth B.N.F.C) during the 1890s. Progress reports appeared in the Club's annual Proceed

ings, and copy was also submitted to the British Association for the Advancement of Science. The

first report appeared only in the B.N.F.C. Pro

ceedings for 1893-4; the second was abstracted into the British Association's Report of the Com

mittee on Erratic Blocks (1895,435-6), and subse

quent accounts appeared in later British

Association Reports (1896, 376-7; 1902, 253 and

summary table; 1910, 104-6; 1911, 101-2; 1912, 134-5 and 1913,147-9). These reports were based

upon hand specimens, microscopic work compris

ing only a tiny percentage of the identifications.

Those rock-types most commonly mentioned

include Ailsa Craig riebeckite-eurite micro

granite, flint and basalt. Unfortunately in the

published syntheses 'basalts and other rocks too

widely distributed as rocks in the district to be of

value in indicating lines of ice-flow were omitted

from the schedule' (Brit. Assoc. Rep. 1902, 253). Besides basalt, more obvious omissions included

chalk and flint.

Porcellanite, then undefined and unlocalised, was obviously absent from the observations,

though ample evidence was presented to demon

strate the widespread distribution throughout northern Ireland of igneous and metamorphic rocks from the Cushendun and Cushendall area

(1902; schedule opp. p. 253). Here the general

path of the invading Scottish ice passing over Co.

Antrim was indicated by the distribution of Ailsa

Craig rock. Many schists, dolerites, granites and

basalts, possibly originating in Scotland, Donegal, the Sperrins or the Mourne Mountains, remained

without provenance. No synthesis of these data was published either

by the Belfast Naturalists or by the British Asso

ciation and it fell to Charlesworth and Dwerry

house (1923) ?o interpret the voluminous

published compilation. More recent glacial investigations have been concerned with chrono

logical and geomorphological problems of the

Quaternary (for example Hill and Prior 1968). Studies of erratics are now quite unfashionable.

The distribution of erratics in the rest of Ireland

Notwithstanding the obvious shortcomings of these early erratic surveys, certain fundamentals of Irish Quaternary geology were established

through them and through the more limited data collected by officers of the Geological Survey of Ireland over the half centurv from about 1840 to 1890.

Through such investigations both in Ireland and

beyond, the movement of flint from the Antrim

Derry exposures was shown to have formed per

haps the most important erratic component of the Irish northern drift. Its documentation within

northern, eastern and south littoral Ireland is

beyond question (Briggs 1983, 186). But the

degree to which other hard rocks of Antrim pro venance were also re-cycled is central to the ques tion of 'trade'. Two important factors must be

taken into account in an evaluation of this

potential. First, current limited exposures of porcellanite

may give a false impression of an original, more

extensive disposition during Tertiary times. In

1843 Portlock described an outcrop of metamor

phic stone, like porcellanite also probably the

product of volcanic baking, between the flint and

basalt on Slieve Gallion, Co. Tyrone (Portlock

1843,113,116). This was compared to axe-making

porcellanites in 1969 (Briggs 1969). Explanations of pebble dispersion patterns must take into

account the likelihood that material from these

Antrim-Derry Tertiary (and possibly earlier) out

crops were being re-cycled well before the more

recent, Pleistocene Ice Age.

Secondly, porcellanite is an extremely durable

rock which might be expected to survive short

distance travel as large boulders, and to be recog nisable in pebble form after travelling much

greater distances.

It should be recalled how Knowles' archaeolo

gical work showed the occurrence of porcellanite boulders mixed with Scottish erratics deposited on

the Antrim Plateau (Knowles 1903a and 1906). And Sheridan's useful fieldwork around Clough, Co. Antrim, confirms the value of these early observations (1986,28). Creighton (1974,186, fig.

7.6) and others have found Ailsa Craig rock in the

Bann Valley and on the Antrim coast and plateau

(Charlesworth and Preston 1958,25). It has more

recently been found further afield as far E. as

13



^ y / !????\?

/ / \\ -^ '.M?o -*> //> r'4%' AH

//// /I/ / %<v \ '!*'? ̂4#a /w//

\s^ t^y/ ?CAL8 OP.JOW?

14



Shortalstown, Co. Wexford (Colhoun and Mitch ell 1971, 222). In fact, it is a fairlv common erratic

within NE. and E. Ireland (Wilson 1972, 73) which P. J. Francis et al (1988, 140) consider was

probably collected locally by prehistoric man. In 1939 Charlesworth mapped directional

movement of certain erratics within northern Ire land (1939, 258, fig. 2; here Fig. 4). He possessed a

first-hand knowledge of many primary rock occur

rences, so sightings were no doubt confirmed

through original fieldwork. His map charts multi directional dispersion of Tyrone igneous and

metamorphic rocks, some as far afield as mid

Down; the movement of Slemish (N. Antrim) dolerite to well S. of its source, and of Ailsa Craig and other Scottish rock towards the Irish heart land. 'Quartzites from the Old Red Sandstone

conglomerate of Cushendun . . . were recognised at Ballyemon, Retreat, (around) Belfast Lough,

Dunmurry and Downpatrick; . . . Cushendall

porphyry was transported to Linford Water, Gle

narm. Island Magee and Lisburn' (Charlesworth 1939, 257). NE. Antrim produced many of these

erratics, few as durable as porcellanite. Co. Antrim rocks were also carried W. across

Co. Donegal (Charlesworth 1957, 750, fig. 138). Charlesworth (1939, 256) admitted that his

general synthesis only incidentally concerned

erractics.

Drift flint commonly occurs in the eastern Irish

counties. Traces were first noticed on the hills of

counties Dublin and Wicklow by Jukes in 1857

(p. 675). It was later documented in the Memoirs

of the Geological Survey (M.G.S.) for Cork

(1903), Dublin (1905) and Limerick (1909), whilst considerable quantities of transported flint, believed to have been deposited by a Pleistocene

ice sheet, have more recently been described by Colhoun and Mitchell (1971) at Shortalstown and

by Quinn (1984) in Co. Waterford. If this trans

ported flint did derive from Co. Antrim, porcell anites should have been recycled similar

distances.

Such an interpretation of drift flint has long been accepted, but the geological picture is now

complicated by new discoveries. First, by an

occurrence of Cretaceous chalk in Co. Kerry

(Walsh 1966): secondly, by the existence of a submarine outcrop off Southern Ireland (Naylor and Shannon 1982, 37, fig. 4.2) and thirdly by the

dredging of Cretaceous material from the Atlantic. These factors introduce variables of pro venance, and show that derived chalk and flint could have had more local. S. Irish origins (Briggs 1983,188). Fugitive flint has also been noted from excavations in Cos. Galwav and Sligo (references in Briggs 1983).

However, even if some of this flint is of local

origin, it is likely that at least a component is northern. This seems to be borne out by the early documentation of northern erratics in southern Ireland. Although it concerned only better known rock types, some were unequivocally of northern origin; for example Mourne granite and

Ailsa Craig rock in Co. Cork (M. G.S. Cork, 1903

passim; Charlesworth 1957, 368, fig. 68; Wilson

1972, 83). It seems reasonable to infer that if Ailsa Craig

rock occurs in Co. Cork, an erratic as durable as

porcellanite ought also to be found among those which travelled the same distance. Though to a

greater degree the lithological components of the

gravels around Limerick remain unknown, they do include chalk flints. The presence of an axe of

Ailsa Craig rock at Lough Our (see above), may also hint at the presence of other durable northern

erratics. There is clearly a need for systematic surveys of

erractics throughout the deposits known to pro duce them in order to ascertain the whereabouts

of flint and of harder, more exotic metamorphic and igneous rocks.

The Irish Drift outside Ireland

Before dismissing the possibility that Irish (or

Scottish) porcellanites might have been carried

across England or Scotland by ice (as does

Sheridan 1986, 28), or indeed, have been trans

ported through other, geologically earlier, recy

cling, we must reflect briefly upon the quality of

erratic sampling in Britain.

The British Association's Committee for the

Study of Erratic Blocks (1871-1920), alluded to

Fig. 4. The erratic fans of some readily recognisable erratics in North-east Ireland (after

Charlesworth, 1939): Ailsa Craig microgranite (1); Arran rocks, mainly granite (2); Cushendun

microgranite (3); Slemish dolerite (4); Tardree rhyolite (5); Scrabo dolerite (6); Castle Espie (Carbo niferous) limestone (7); various members of the Tyrone igneous and metamorphic series (8); Carbo

niferous limestones from south-west and west of Lough Neagh (9); and lignite from the Lough Neagh

clays (not necessarily, as also in the case of 9, from this restricted area) (10). N.B. - The straight lines

within and bounding the various fans are not meant to represent the actual routes by which the erratics

reached their present positions. (Reproduced by permission of the Royal Irish Academy.)

15



above, drew together data collected by a number

of local Naturalists' societies, and by some groups set up expressly to record and preserve erratics.

Although the detailed history of this geological conservation movement is not yet written, pre

liminary investigation shows that whilst many amateurs displayed an ability to recognise the

bedrock of their own localities, few knew the

petrography of rocks from further afield. Often,

igneous and metamorphic components could

hardly be distinguished one from another, even by the relatively well-informed. Only certain N. and

midland English counties were surveyed; those

yielding few erratics generated less interest. The more spectacular, larger boulders attracted

greater attention. Virtually no rocks were sec

tioned during a half century of activity. In E.

England, erratics of less than one foot in diameter were not recorded (Briggs 1988).

Since these systematic boulder collections were

made there has been no extensive investigation and little p?trographie thin-section work has been

published.

England and Wales

Irish ice crossed St George's Channel, carrying Antrim flint, dropping fragments along its path

through SW. Scotland, down the W. coasts of

England and Wales, into the Vale of Glamorgan, and across the Cheshire plain into the Midlands

and even beyond. This is an uncontested funda mental (Charlesworth 1957, 775-9). Some Irish

Sea ice may also have crossed Stainmore, mixing Irish flint with that from E. Yorkshire (Carvill

Lewis 1894,161,378,417-18; Charlesworth 1957,

775-9). In the absence of erratic counts or p?trographie

studies, 'Irish Sea Flint' is considered a diagnostic

component of the drifts of that name. But some

Irish rocks have been met in Derbyshire. Within two miles' radius of Eaton, near Congleton

(SJ 87 65), amongst numerous erratics of Lake

District origin, Antrobus and Hatch (1890) recog nised granites believed to derive from the Western

Isles, with one specimen each of gabbro and of basalt either of the same origin, or from Antrim. Far-travelled igneous and metamorphic erratics on the Welsh coast have received scant attention, K. E. Williams recognised an olivine basalt com

parable to that of Megaberry, Moira, Co. Down

(his specimen 1364) among a suite including others from SW. Scotland, on the hillside above

Nant-y-Ferwig, in the Teifi Estuary in 1927 (Wil liams 1927, 7). In 1962, Irish rocks were recog nised on Aberystwyth beach (Hope Macdonald

1962), and the 'Irish drift5 in the Vale of Glamor

gan, also laden with Irish sea flint (Griffiths 1940), would no doubt usefully repay p?trographie sampling.

Scotland

Due to the localised distribution of Antrim por cellanite axes in NE. Scotland, an examination of

Scotland's superficial deposits is extremely impor tant in case there are clues hinting at a local source.

The entry of Irish Sea Ice into W, Scotland has

been documented (Smith 1879), but mystery sur

rounds the origin of the flint deposits close to

Edinburgh described by Thomas Smith, who

believed the greenstone boulders and plentiful erratic flint at Marionville had been transported on a glacial current from Ireland (Smith 1875,54).

The origins of the better-known Buchan flint

and quartzite pebble beds are of even greater interest and there has been recent discussion of

several theories as to their origins (Hall 1982; Merritt and McMillan 1982). Studies to prove nance the origins of the more unusual components

(mainly psammitic metasediments and granites) have not been particularly successful, owing to the

decomposed nature of the sample (McMillan and

Merritt 1980). One theory overlooked in recent discussions

was that proposed by Callander (1917,121) who, without defining the precise geological mechan

ism which may have carried it, suggested that the

flint component had originated in Northern Ire

land. In fact the Buchan Beds do imbricate

towards the SW., seeming to confirm transport from that direction (Gemmell and Kesel 1979,

70). If Calender's theory is correct, the porcell anite axes distributed roughly over the Buchan

beds scattered in a SW.-NE. direction across

Scotland (Sheridan 1986, fig. 1) might illustrate a late Tertiary or post-Tertiary re-cycling route for

Irish igneous and metamorphic rocks and for

Cretaceous flints. The geology of Tertiary County Antrim was an extension of the Antrim-Mull

igneous complex. Former occurrences of Tertiary

porcellanite in this area may have been eroded and been carried in stages, part-way or right across Scotland.3

The present limits of the Buchan Beds may be

owed to Pleistocene Glacial events which re

distributed volumes of eroded material (Gemmell and Kesel, 1979, 74), possibly in a southerly direction. Re-cycling at this time could be

expected to have carried the most durable rocks

(like porcellanites) to the very margins of the

glaciers and out into glacial outwash fans, that is, to the S. of England.

At this point it would have been helpful to call

upon scientific records systematically sampling Scottish superficial deposits. Unfortunately, how

ever, here as elsewhere, these hardly exist. The

earliest survey of British erratics was conducted in

Scotland and the results published by the Royal

16



Society of Edinburgh (Froc. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh 1870-1881, passim, where over 800 pages are

devoted to macroscopic examinations of erratics). Since that survey, little interest has been focused

upon the pebble components of the Scottish tills, for, like many of the Irish, they are generally replete with an amazing variety of igneous and

metamorphic rocks which would be very expen sive to sample in detail.

Calender's suggestion deserves serious con

sideration until tested and disproven by more

exhaustive petrography upon the components of the Buchan Beds. Furthermore, there is a growing need to sample more erratics in Scottish drifts to

document the dispersal of the better-known indi

cator rocks. Whatever their origin, there is

throughout Scotland no shortage of a wide variety of implement-making material (Fenton 1984), as a

glance at the beaches of the NE. reveals.

In recent years archaeologists have been hasty to dismiss British-Irish superficial deposits as the

likely quarries of stone for prehistoric implement

making. With the odd exception (Fenton 1984), little effort has been expended upon the collection

or examination of beach, river or glacial pebbles and accounts of unworked lithic material from

excavations are rare.

It is now clear that there exists virtually no

information about this lithic resource as control

for comparison against the p?trographie informa

tion gained from artefact thin section work.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

In her examination of the Irish 'axe trade' or of

'gift-exchanging', Sheridan argued that 'human

agency is the most likely mechanism moving por cellanite over Britain and Ireland,' because 'it is

patently impossible for porcellanite artifacts scat

tered from Shetland to the South Coast of

England to have been moved to those places by

glacial action' and 'within Ireland, although a

handful of cobbles have been noted . . . The

'glacial erratic' theory still lacks convincing substantiation (except for the area within the

vicinity of Tievebulliagh)' (1986, 28). This would be an acceptable deduction if the billions of tonnes

of British-Irish erratics could be shown to have

been systematically sampled and the sampling had

produced negative results.

No erratics survey has ever been produced even

vaguely comparable to that which now covers a

representative selection of the axes. This must

surely reduce the efficacy of any argument for

trade. We might better argue that it is possible there was a trade; but in the same breath admit

that our means of assessing the probability of its

existence are extremely limited.

Scientific theory is usually limited by para

meters agreed upon by the scientific community. The major geological parameter acting upon the

theory of axe trading in the British-Irish context is the availability of raw materials. A knowledge of that major control has been examined and found

wanting. Clearly, in order to prove the 'trading hypothesis', rather than dismiss alternative theo ries out of hand, we might better first test them in order to demonstrate the integrity of the case for human trade or exchange.

The question of availability of lithic raw

materials must now be put on a similar footing to that of pollen, landsnails, beetles and other environmental indicators. Without it, we lack a

major determining component of prehistoric life.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The writer was introduced to Irish stone implements by James Brennan, Pat Collins, and Geordie Freeburn. He was fortunate to visit Rathlin and Tievebulliagh whilst

holding a Leverhulme Scholarship in the Institute of Irish Studies, Queen's University of Belfast (1972-3).

Thanks are due to Miss M. Craster, Dr M. Ryan and Prof. Peter Woodman for answering inquiries about museum specimens and to Mrs A. Given for providing information about sites. Also to Dr A. Griffiths, Direc tor, Geological Survey N. Ireland, and Dr A. P. Bazley,

District Geologist, British Geological Survey (Wales) for geological advice. The writer thanks Dr Michael

Avery for suggesting useful emendations. The views

expressed and any errors remain the writer's responsi bility.

NOTES

1. Knowles' Glenballyemon sites were in the town lands of Muroo, Lougheen, Knockan and Glenariff

(D 23 25). Tamnaharry (D 21 25) to the E. of the

exposure, and Glenaan (D 19 27), and Glendun

(D 19 30) to the N. (Knowles 1902, 757-8).Later, Moneyduff (D 09 17), Glenleslie (D 10 16) and

Tullykittagh (D 12 16), near Clough were added to these localities (Knowles 1903,360-363; 1906,383). It is possible that not all of these working floors took

advantage of porcellanite. Antrim baked shale and other fine-grained metamorphics were also used.

Apparently similar sites where unpolished axes could be found were also known at Ballycastle (D 11 40; most likely a baked shale site), near

Ballyrnena (D 10 03), and elsewhere in the Bann

Valley (Knowles 1906, 392). To these should be added Loughaveema (D 20 36), where it is claimed

(though it has not been documented) that both

flaking and polishing of axes was affected (Jope 1952, 39).

2. These comprise one each in Glenaan (the site only), Lubitavish (a Court Cairn in State care), Tirkilly (the remains only) and two examples in Cloghs. In

addition there are two standing stones in Tirkilly, and a simple cairn, together with an undiagnostic site discovered by aerial photography, in Cloghs (Chart 1941,19-20; Watson et al 1941,36; Archaeo

17



logical Survey of Northern Ireland unpublished records, A. Given, pers. comm.).

3. Pebble erratics collected from the Mull basal con

glomerate and in 1924 described as 'volcanic'

(British Geological Survey Petrography Register nos 2?764-6, 20768-9 and 20767) might now be

usefully re-examined and compared to Antrim con

tact metamorphics {M.G.S. Mull 1924, 63) and to

cobble elements in the Buchan Beds.

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Documents

Stone Resources and Implements in Prehistoric Ireland: A Review STONE RESOURCES AND IMPLEMENTS IN PREHISTORIC IRELAND: A REVIEW Dyfed, Wales SY23 4SR