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Experimental reproduction of European prehistoric perforated stones with emphasis on deviation from the circular plan hole.
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1
Contents 2 Unconscious paradigm
2 Introduction
3 The Patience Stone and less patient attempts to make hour-glass holed stones
4 Artefacts from Penlee Gallery and Museum
6 Penlee Museum contd.:Perforating an elongated stone; respecting the sides.
8 Table 1:LEPPR(1.1+)
10 The ease of manufacture of non-circular plan perforated implements
12 The non-drilling of Maesmore shaft-hole mace-heads
14 Recreating a shaft-hole adze in greenstone
15 Proper circular shaft-holes similar to those in cushion maces and battle-axes
16 Some midi sized perforations: Stone discs and bangles
17 Axe hammers at The Museum of London
20 Two implements briefly sketched from the MOL display cabinets
21 Conclusions about the perforating of hard stone implements
Part 2
22 Pierced granite megaliths: a local distraction from making stone implements
23 Holed stone gate-post near Merry Maidens stone circle and some disappearances
25The Tolvan Stone
26 The Kenidjack Common holed stones near Tregeseal stone circle
29 Some Early Medieval metal-chiselled perforations
30 How to make Men-an-Tol
33 Returning to Men-an-Tol
34 Conclusions
36 Acknowledgements
36 References
2
The surprisingly late adoption of slotted perforation tools in Europe and what this
suggests about the Neolithic Outlook:
Attempts to recreate ancient artefacts, including the pierced megaliths of Cornwall with a
comparison of manufacturing marks and other clues; not least the perception of the primitive stone-
worker.
Graham Hill
The unconscious paradigm: Stone axe and hammer heads have circular holes because they have been drilled. Later Bronze and
Iron tools could be cast or forged so the elongated plan perforation became possible, which persists
to this day.
Introduction
On December 20th
2010 whilst visiting his sister, this writer asked her to try to remember a television
programme that they had both seen in late July or early August 1972. She was 5 and he 7 at the time.
Our parents had been negotiating with the Shulvers about buying their house. In the day we had got
lost in the woods and now we were staying up passed our bedtime.
From the excerpts that frightened me* I have recently deduced that we had been watching ‘The
Illustrated Hitchcock’ in which he discusses his life, with daughter; Pia Lindstrom and film historian;
William Everson. Without prompting; sister Alison remembered being frightened by ‘The shower
scene’ from Psycho. I remember this too, but being 18 months her senior I found myself being even
more disturbed by another excerpt which turned out to have been designed by Salvador Dali. In ‘The
dream sequence’ from Spellbound(1945); from my memory , a distorted wagon wheel falls off a
cliff.
Image: Impression of the distorted wheel.
Actually a man with a cloth covered face
drops the wheel off a building. I would like
to show a film still but obtaining rights is
harder than writing this essay and was not
achieved at the deadline.
This writer hopes to explain that in the past
the non-circular perforation, whilst possible
and often practical would have been taboo or
an act of sacrilege and as disturbing as Dali’s
wagon wheel was intended to be. But first we
must investigate the business of perforating
hard stones; starting at the beginning in the
Mesolithic or even Upper Paleolithic.
*At this age my parents were suffering from
The Luftwaffe and flying bombs!
3
The Patience Stone and less patient attempts to make hour-glass holed stones.
According to a credible account by Patrick Mc Shane: he was set a task by native American; Willy
Lamere of the Shoshone as a test before he could take part in a ‘Vision Quest’. A river rolled basalt
cobble and a quartzite hammer-stone were selected and he was invited to peck a hole through from
both sides to the middle in one session before dusk and without breaking the cobble. There would be
no second chance and it appears that Mc Shane took this to heart; making full use of the time, not
breaking it and with the dwindling hammer-stone enlarge the neck to see the setting sun through the
middle.Hence: ‘ The Patience Stone’(Google).
This writer; unlike Mc Shane did not have a canny guide and broke 3 sizeable cobbles of
greenstone(modified basalt) and granite in 3 to 5 hours each in early September 2007.
The motivation for the task was apparently strong, but the intent not pure; being frustrated by the
poor fieldwalking opportunities and lack of finds of the very kind of object that he was attempting to
recreate.
Not only was the cobble choice niave; but also the selection of the very toughest ‘elvan’ dolerite
hammer-stones, which have no tendency to crumble on over-striking, unlike Mc Shane’s quartzite.
Hence the danger of splitting the cobble was high.
The 4th
attempt through a dubious coarse granite cobble was a success with the use of 3 progressively
lighter tough dolerite hammer-stones to break through a single cone shaped chip. This experimenter
was so pleased that he went no further; being happy to immortalise that split-second of triumph.
Images:2nd
-7th
Sept. 2007.
Micro-granite and 2 greenstone cobbles from Werrytown beach; broken during pecking and
successful breakthrough of coarse granite. Note thimble depression from smaller dolerite hammer.
2nd
stone shows break through a natural plane and 3rd
shows signs of an iron oxidised flaw.
These hourglass perforations are typical of the first pebble maces dating to the Mesolithic or earlier.
4
Artefacts from Penlee Gallery and Museum
Characteristics of the hole of the example below are chipped with rougher lips of the entrance to the
hole where occassional mis-hits have occurred and a quite smooth bell-shaped cavity with some
deeper pecks showing. The neck is much narrower than the entrance and is mirror-imaged on the
other side.
In examples where the perforation has not broken through, the bottom of the hole can be smooth.
The experimenter attributes this to under-developed technique. In his early experiments a strong,
elongated pebble pecked well initially, but slowed as the hole deepened; conforming to the radius of
curvature of the pebble hammer and hence impacting over a large area and ‘polishing’ the surface
rather than spalling it.
Images: Courtesy of Penlee Gallery and Museum. A
micro-granite axe-hammer; incompletely perforated.
This is a tool of definitely Neolithic and even Bronze
age association.The finish becomes finer from lip
downwards and is even shiny in one of the dimples;
indicating a worker who has run out of ideas! The main
crack almost diagonally bisects the piece and like others in the side may have developed from
release of stress from corrosion of iron compounds in the rock after abandonment.
The next mace to be featured from The Penlee Collection is a near circular quartzite pebble with an
hour-glass perforation and narrow neck. It would have been lucky to have completed it with blunt
elongated tough pebble tools without it breaking and the internal peck marks suggest the use of
something sharper. Flaked flint is fragile for this job, but some of the chert available as naturally
transported pebbles to Cornwall has better impact strength and often a hardness similar to that of the
pebble mace due to granular quartz in the chert structure . Dave Weddle (2010) has demonstrated
this with chert fabricators; tools also associated with iron ore and fire-making (Clarke, 1970).
Image: a flint fabricator: find 541.1, West Penwith, Cornwall.(Hill,2008).
5
Images: Courtesy of Penlee Gallery and Museum;
a broken quartzite pebble mace-head. Note pecked
damage to entrance, becoming smoother towards
neck of hole.
There remains little evidence to suggest how the
hole was widened.The slightly countersunk nested
concavity is evidence of finishing with a narrower
tool. There is no sign of a rotating action and indeed it would be unlikely as a tactic as the torsion
would fracture the quartz or chert tooling necessary to scratch the surface.
The likely methods have been found by experiment and ancient examples will be given which show
marks suggested by these techniques.
To Digress…
Image: Not all maces have man-made perforations. Flint
examples with the possible exception of the engraved
masterpiece from Knowth rely on the frequent natural holes in
nodules of this otherwise hard and brittle material.(Coe,1959)
This broken example; perhaps more amulet sized was found in
a mostly Neolithic flint surface scatter; in West Penwith,
Cornwall.
Find: 539.1(Hill,2008 unpubl.).
Penlee Museum contd.:Perforating an elongated stone;
respecting the sides.
Between September 1st and 5
th 2008 this experimenter
perforated a tough rosy granite cobble using elongated
‘fusiform’dolerite pebbles to break through. Conscious of the
unpredictable strength of granite, the direction of the blows tended to be biased in the longitudinal
direction. At breakthrough the hour-glass was decidedly oval in plan.
As had been recent practice, it was intended to make the hole substantially wider and it had been
found that this was more time consuming than expected.
6
Tough dolerite stones were still this experimenter’s idiosincratic choice but butt down on a granite
anvil stone they were tapped on the nose with a larger dolerite cobble until they flaked. These tools
had a cutting action when impacted in the perforation and could be reflaked and used; often for
hours.
Images: Experimental archaeology journal, including 2 reflaked diorite pebbles. Notice that in the
side section drawing; the front wall of the perforation is less hour-glass than the back. The
relationship of this to the non-parallel top and bottom of the pebble will become an important part of
the discussion of manufacturing techniques in ancient examples of near shaft-hole implements. The
photo shows a near contemporary circular plan perforated cobble of similar stone to the oval holed
mace.
Next images: a recent acquisition by Penlee Gallery. This axe-hammer is typically highly corroded
for ‘greenstone’ ancient artifacts from West Penwith. The perforation is impressively large;
dominating the piece and conferring a little unease about its’ practicality for heavy blows. Even the
damage is obscured by the 2-3mm deep pitting. It is possible that there are some rotary finishing
marks in the perforation, but it is uncertain. What remains is a difference between the front and
back wall of the perforation. As with the previous modern rosy granite example; the top and bottom
of the piece are not parallel.
7
Image: Penlee gallery axe-hammer. Compare
side section with that of previous rosy granite
item.
Images:The next Penlee
example has what might be a
classic shaft-hole perforation
with a slight widening and
roughening at the entrance but
a substantially straight sided
and circular form with nearly
smooth finish.
A cursory examination of this
axe-hammer might lead to a drilling(rotating tool) explanation, but the reader may be primed by my
observations and by the lack of any circumferential marks even to complete the internal finish. It is
this kind of object, along with even straighter shaft-holed objects like battle-axes and cushion maces
that gives the impression of more advanced techniques as the Neolithic gives way to the Bronze Age
(Roe,1968).
Copper tube drilling was practised in Old Kingdom Egypt(Gizeh) along with the flint boring of
diorite vases(Hodges,1970) and Paleo-Indians(Fundaburk,2001); have also left the characteristic
stone cores from this operation but with an organic alternative: perhaps a reed to embed the sand or
crushed chert.As for the Bronze-Age Chinese; their unsurpassed working of Jade is evidence for
craft specialisation at an early date, along with a stable hierachical society in which objects of great
labour could be worked to perfection for a feared and venerated leader.Technologies like mechanical
drilling and even lathes were developed for this task; drawing parallels with Egypt. Despite the
exceptional achievements of Stonehenege, Knowth and Silbury, societies as big and coherent did not
appear in Europe and stone working was more personal and improvised.
8
Images:This final axe
from Penlee Gallery and
Museum has broken
across the smallest
section of greenstone.
The hole diameter is
28mm, but the radius at
the break is18mm;
giving an elongated hole
of about 36mm and
respecting the sides of
the stone as if it were
pecked and not drilled.
The slight all-over
corrosion has been
enough to obscure fine
working methods, but
the perforation is
rougher toward the
slightly damaged
entrances.
The concave upper and
lower surface is a
pleasing way of
removing most of this
outer damage from pecking mis-hits.In the longitudinal direction the
eccentrity ratio is 36 divided by 28; nearly equalling 1.3. This ‘longitudinal eccentricity perforation
plan ratio’ or ‘LEPPR’ will appear throughout the later part of this work.
Although the degree of eccentricity is open to question, due to the axe’s incompletenes; it remains a
fact and makes a strong case against a rotating method for its’ production. It seems difficult to
generate rotating side force and cut with a hand or stick rotated stone without something failing if the
hole is not circular ie when not supporting the drill symmetrically. Modern steel milling machines
have overcome these problems; but I think that that is a different world!
At 1.3 the eccentricity may be overlooked by the casual observer whilst contributing to the better
security of hafting taken for granted with modern tools.
It is worth considering how unusual eccentrically perforated stone implements are:
Table 1 Eccentric(LEPPR 1.1+) All Perforated Stones
Penlee Gallery and Museum(display) 1 ‘Heamoor’ 6
Royal Cornwall Museum(display) 1 ‘Polperro’battle-axe1.1LEPPR 21
Exeter Musuem(display) 0 6
Museum of London(display) 1(A14982) 21
Ancienttouch(internet) 0 5
National Museum of Ireland(internet) 0 3
Museum of the Earth (internet) 0 4
Mohen,1999.Standing Stones 0 5
British Museum(displays Europe ) 0 9
Pearce,1981.The Arch.of SW Britain 0 3
Fiona Roe,1968.Stone mace-heads and… 2?(fig32;3,11) 45
9
Tonbridge Wells Museum(display) 0 1
Canterbury Roman Museum(stone-age display) 0 1
Hierapolis Museum (display) 0 1
Portable Antiquities Scheme ‘mace-head’ 0 16
Portable Antiquities Scheme ‘axe-hammer’ 0 4
Clarke,1970 Beaker Pottery… 1?no.778Garton Slack,Yorks. 3
Darwin Country(Shrewsbury Museum)internet 1(SHYMS:A/2003/165) 24
National Museum of Scotland,1892 0 14
Childe,1925.The Dawn of European…. 1;fig106,4 19
Paton Walsh,1975.The Island Sunrise 0 7
Plant,1942.Man’s Unwritten Past 0 7
Cunliffe,1998.Prehistoric Europe 0 4
Megaw,Simpson,1984.British Prehistory 0 3
De Morgan,1924.Prehistoric Man 0 2
Hawkes,1963.Prehistory 0 3
Briard,1979.The Bronze Age in… 0 4
Clark,1940.Prehistoric England 1(plate 20,battle-axe,LEPPR1.2) 0
You get the idea. Some objects may be duplicated in differernt sources. Definitely drilled objects ie
beads and spindle whorls are excluded, as are soft stones which are not hafted implements ie jet belt
sliders,loom and thatch weights and all the products of highly organised Bronze-Age civilisations;
namely Egypt and China. Many of these ie Egyptian mace heads are clearly drilled and turned .The
total of objects surveyed at 243 has little relevance to the number in existance in Britain or Europe
but the sample is big enough to suggest a non circular rate of about 3% and certainly less than 5% for
perforated stone objects designed for hafting. Included are the 3 jadeite rings of Morbihan
(Mohen,1999) which may have parallels with Capsian maces and bangles and Chinese Bi disks and
appear to require circular form. They will be discussed later.
This image: 9 non circular plan perforated stones.In order will be stated date of manufacture under
experimental archaeology conditions, present owner, rock type and LEPPR.
1. 1st-5th
Sept.2008, G.Hill,
Rosy Granite,1.5
2. 6th
-15th
Sept.2008, G.Hill,
Greenstone
3. 6th
Oct.2008, G.Hill,Dolerite,
’elvan’,1.3.
4.9th
-14th
Oct.2008,Roger
‘geologist’,Greenstone,1.3.
5.Apr.-midMay2009,
G.Hill,Greenstone,1.6.
6.Early May-early July2009,
John Neff, Greenstone,1.8.
7.10th
-12th
June2010,
Matt Mossop, Serpentine(?),1.7
8.EarlyOct.2010,G.Hill,
Quartzite,1.5.9.Sept.Oct.2010,G.
Hill, Greenstone,1.6.
(Thanks Roger for dolerite I.D.)
10
The ease of manufacture of non-circular plan perforated implements.
It has been demostrated that implements with hour-glass perforations tend to have a circular plan due
to the systematic or even haphazard pecking tending remove high spots and irregularities over the
course of many impacts, but there is claimed by this experimenter to be a contradictory tendency to
bias the work along the longitudinal axis of an elongated stone.This tendency is made up of 2
components: ease of grip with reduced chance of self-injury and secondly a desire not to snap
through the stone at its smallest sectional area. This longitudinal tendency was applied to Rosy Granite1 and took a little longer to produce the neck which
could have become a circle of similar diameter to the maximum length of the slot if all points of the compass
strikes had been used.
Really effective removal of the ramps of an hour-glass perforation is a technology needed to produce ‘shaft-
holes’Whilst suggesting that Neolithic mace-heads were made by tubular boring, Fiona Roe in her 1968 paper
writes:
‘Such few unfinished examples as survive suggest rather[than tubular boring] they were made by a pecking
and grinding process, being conical in shape(fig.32,6), so evidently less advanced methods of boring were also
used.’(Roe,1968)
How were these objects finished?
The smooth, finish of many perforations has removed the evidence, but 2 mace-heads on the Portable
Antiquities Scheme website show evidence of a reciprocating; sawing or filing action.
SW YOR-D14 397 Mace. ‘The hole has radiating grooves in the edge, probably evidence of the way the hole
was made.’The deep longitudal sawed grooves cut into the neck of the hole and suggest a flint edged, hafted
or fabricator tool being used. This writer has added a PAS allowed comment to the page.
LIN-DE7E13 Mace ‘At one end of the hole there is a series of vertical grooves, approximately 5mm in length
and spaced circa 1mm apart. These marks might have been intentionally made to increase the grip of bone
wedges forced into the socket in order to make the haft more secure’ In another PAS allowed comment, this
writer suggested that a flint saw had been used through the hole from the other side to widen the neck of the
hour-glass, but at too steep an angle leaving work marks on the entrance.
This experimenter has found that there is a staged technique for producing ‘shaft-holes’ in the quickest way:
1;Peck an hour-glass hole from both sides, using a flaked ‘chisel-tipped’ tools of diorite or a tough grade of
chert. Aim to generate maximum width at breakthrough ie a bell-shaped cavity, rather than racing to a finish
and leaving cone-shaped cavities. This nicety makes a tremendous difference in ease of widening the neck.
At this stage you will have generated a circular plan hour-glass or something more oval if this is to your taste!
If the hole is circular you have the option of a rotating flint bit to ream a shaft-hole. This technique will be
discussed later, but please note that though very pleasing in effect it may be no quicker than other methods.
2. Continue with flaked tip tools to widen the neck. As the angle of attack lessens, then the removal becomes
less efficient and this may necesitate more frequent tool reflaking to prevent the neck just glossing without
progress.Reflaking of the side of the tool makes better use of the glancing strikes.
3.Soon the observant and determined experimenter will find that their best edged impact methods have
reached their limit of effectiveness. If one side of the neck has been straightened then the other side may have
a shallow ramp. The tool bounces off and may produce a concavity opposite to it. This feature will be
discussed later pertaining to Maesmore mace-heads(Roe,1968).
A long stick, perhaps‘green’ with bark will eventually just fit through the hole. If sharp sand or crushed quartz
or chert is added then the stick can be worked back and forth. A classic (in the literature) of rotation,perhaps
Images:sketches from
photos on Portable
Antiquities Scheme
website; finds.org.uk
11
as a bowdrill is inferior to the rapid reciprocation of a stick up to 1 metre long. Initially the method is not very
effective as the cusp at the neck tends to strip away the grit, but with patience this flattens and the closer to
shaft-hole the better the action, using wider and heavier sticks as the neck widens to keep a fierce action.
This method works well with circular plan and slotted plan perforations and the fine sand tends to leave a
polish when the shaft-hole is completed.
More powerful versions of this technique exist; perhaps easier to use in larger diameter holes.Crushed chert
grit embedded in the stick is powerful but may need refrehing every few minutes. The stick layed onto the
chert on an anvil stone is hammered from the back to embed the grit.
Resin glued flint teeth into a seasoned wood stick or bone in the Mesolithic tradition are an option for flint-
workers more able than me.
A tanged flint saw bit was pushed through the perforation of battle-axe 2 and sawed down the remaining ramp
in a few hours. The first example of a dimple was left opposite it. Referring to the side view of battle-axe 2 it
is noticeable that the starting surfaces for the starting hour-
glass perforations are not parallel, giving an expanded blade at the front and a less high butt. This is a feature
common to many mace designs but other types ie axe-hammers tend to have parallel top and bottom surfaces. This has an effect on the ramps formed at the back and front of the perforation. The one at the front is closer
to straight and it goes first on percussive removal. The stubborn remnant of the rear one remains and the tool
ricochets off it to produce the dimple(s) in the front of the perforation.
Fiona Roe observes:
‘A feature that is unknown on stone implements with shaft holes save on mace-heads of the ovoid and pestle
varieties is an internal widening of the hole. This occurrs on some 39.2% usually though not invariably, being
formed towards the wider end of the implement’.(Roe,1968)
This diagram: Thank you Fiona Roe for allowing this fragment from ‘Stone mace-
heads and the latest Neolithic cultures of the
British Isles’ to be reproduced here. Not
included is table C which has some
straighter perforations but from more
parallel top and bottom surfaces. Unfinished
mace;6 may have failed from poor
technique but unlike the unfinished axe-
hammer from Penlee Gallery it does not have
a smooth finish: rather it looks like it has been
drilled in the sense of a rotary cutting action.
This hardly works against hard stone with
only quartz or chert(not diamond) available.
The next image may be helpful.
Images: Partially completed battle-
axe perforation with rear ramp
carrying grooves from hafted flint
tool(right). Note the dimple in the
neck where the forward ramp was
removed by previous chisel flaked
impactors bouncing off rear ramp.
12
This image:Any reasonable person would say that these stones had been drilled. The 3 little
serpentine beads have been, with flaked
diorite bits embedded in seasoned twigs.
The smaller of the fine granite cobbles did
have some similar work done indoors in the
kitchen sink, but only so that I could child-
mind my 2 year old daughter. The technique
was uncompetitive and all breakthroughs
were completed by flaked dolerite percussive
tools. The slight rotation between strikes of
different or slowly crumbling pebble hammers
cut the nested circumferential ledges in a
manner probably convincing as a twist-
cutting action.
The non-drilling of Maesmore shaft-hole mace-heads
This image: In 2008 inspired and challenged by the
illustrations in Roe’s paper of Maesmore mace-heads this
experimter attempted to make something similar from a
greenstone cobble from near Mousehole. The perforation
depth attempted was slightly greater than those illustrated
and it proved to be at the limits of practicality with
percussion technology. After direct impact by flaked dolerite
pebbles,cylindrical ones were hammered into the cavity,
often with chert underneath to sharpen the cut. Again
rotating sticks with bits and grit proved slower than the most
indirect percussion in the depths of the hole.After
breakthrough, various flaked tools were hammered in to
widen the neck.Improvisation found a use for rotating stick
and grit to remove the cusps. Embedding the stick in the
ground and spinning the mace on it whilst dropping in
smashed chert eventually cleared the neck cusp leaving room
for the first thin tree branches to be reciprocated through it
with sharp chert grit and sand making parallel longitudinal
grooves in the perforation as it ground it to a shaft-hole and
incidentally stained my hands tea-brown from the bark tanin.
The front wall of the perforation contains 2 dimples for
reasons that may become clear from studying the diagrams
Image left: Neolithic crouch and stick, grit and
water in back and forth motion.
Images next: Stages of effort till breakthrough.
Shaded portion is rotation drilling. The rest
pecked, leaving 2 dimples;
relics of bell cavities pecked from non-parallel
pecking platform surfaces.
13
Time taken to make the hole; about 16 hours messing about to breakthrough +3hours indirect percussion and
rotating abrasion to clear neck constriction +5 hours reciprocating stick’n grit to widen hole.
A second attempt would save time with specially flaked dolerite and chert impactors but this experimenter is
still awaiting inspiration.
Next I attempt to show the similarity in surface details between the Maesmore mace-heads ‘shaft-hole’
perforations and the greenstone example shown here. The excellent original drawings by Mr B A Brown show
longitudinal striations and pecked rough surfaces on the cavity surfaces. Given the quality of the drawings of
the exterior of these objects then the striations and pitted cavities are surely real features that I have freely
sketched from the originals.The very similar effects in the perforation of my modern greenstone mace-head
are a necessary if fortuitous result of the lack of alternative methods to produce a narrow shaft-hole.
It would seem that small scale manufacture of mace-heads did not give the makers an opportunity to develop
Images:left; New greenstone macehead.
Right; 5 Maesmore examples after J A Brown with
tops of perforations also redrawn, to confirm
Brown’s observation of striations running
longitudinally.
14
a rational boring technique, if a shaft-hole was desired and the less advanced pecking and sawing were taken
up time and again as each example was made. This experimenter found that rotational drilling techniques
required quite well balanced and strong wood and the bow and it’s cord also needed a good background
knowledge; perhaps from using a fire dril or bow and arrow. Whilst ancient cultures are assumed to have these
technologies it may be that they could not all be harnessed to this task.The wear on the equipment used made
it high on ‘down time’ and unless a core drill could be developed, the process would have been slower than
pecking and sawing. Twist drills in stone tend to stop after short progress as they produce a dead centre
polished high spot where the drill tip has lowest velocity. Work has to be interupted for this to be crushed
away by a pecking tool. A rational use of a twist drill was found to be when a pilot hole of conical shape had
been pecked and the flint boring bit was not resting on it’s centre so that all the cut was on the sides. As the
tool chipped it would still cut further down the cavity. Replacement bits would cut a succession of slightly
tapered cylinders until evidence of the pecked hole was removed. This method is technologically almost
identical to pecking and sawing but produces results often indistinguishable from core dilling with abow.
Recreating a shaft-hole adze in greenstone
Below is a recreation of a broken shaft-hole adze found by Dave Edwards near Ludgvan, West Penwith.
As with the original, time is saved by over deep flake-work where it does not affect its’use; in this case on the
upper surface, reducing the amount of pecking and grinding required.10 hours to make, of which 3 were the
making and widening of the hole.
Complete shaft-hole adze with
Plasticene impression of
perforation.On the same scale is
Dave Edward’s broken green-
stone original from Ludgvan,
Cornwall.The perforation is
adequate for the handle whilst
retaining the widened lip to the
remains of the pecked hour-glass
pilot-hole and some flake
scars on the dorsal surface.
On the hat; flaked dolerite impactors to widen neck of
hour-glass in flaked and pecked rough-out.Werrytown
beach has abundant fusiform pebbles and partly
explains the late adoption of chert fabricator tooling.
Hole widened enough; long stick and coarse sand is
run up and down to straighten sides to shaft-hole.
15
Proper circular shaft-holes similar to those in cushion maces and battle-axes
It would be taking a point too far to deny rotating techniques for holing hard stones.
Hammering just does not work with perforation diameters much smaller than 10mm as the tool is too fragile
in stone. Beads in serpentine, I can drill, but Iron Age Carnelians in Exeter Museum with perforations of about
5mm long are beyond my patience. So much more so are the 6-12 inch examples from the Indus Valley in the
British Museum collection.
The Museum of London has several of the cushion type of mace-head including a pair of white veined black
(?)diorite.They have no manufacturing marks left upon them, even at the entrance to the hole.
Given that these are some of the later holed stones then a drilling technique is feasable, but it need not entirely
supercede the older pecking, which quickly generates a roughout and pilot hole. A rotating drill cuts a shaft-
hole through the hour-glass and when the rough-out surface is ground down, this removes the damaged and
widened entrance, leaving a sharply defined perfectly circular hole.
David Weddle makes fine axes in Cornwall to the highest standards of symmetry and finish. In 2010 I was
fortunate to see finished examples and a roughout in which the hour-glass was in the process of being made
shaft-hole by the rotation of a tough chert fabricator. Not having the flint-working skills this experimenter
achieved reasonable results with flake drill bits; hard hammered on a granite anvil to give the right plan and
dimensions with an occasional re-chip to keep some cutting edge.
Images: from left to right; stages of reaming with flint bits and article after exterior grind.
Images: Far left; hand spun,
reversing drilling
technique,with hands dropping
down stick then quickly letting
go and starting again from top
of stick in the style of ISHI
(Kroeber,1961)
Left; worn flint bits with
adequately shaft-holed
boat axe culture styled
greenstone object.
16
Some midi sized perforations: Stone discs and bangles. There are rare examples from Europe of larger perforations in portable stones. Morbihan in north France has
yielded disks of Jadeite and Serpentine reminiscent of the Chinese Bi, but not quite reaching their standards
of finish and circular symmetry.
The Capsian tradition of North Africa is rich in these objects; many of them appearing for sale on the internet.
Stouter examples are often described as maces whereas the finer ones may be bangles and also as a
form of currency has been suggested by some selling websites. The illustrated example has a pecked internal finish and well ground
external surface with a good final polish.This experimenter has found that
objects of this fineness are quite time consuming to make and
that maces of greater wall thicknessare less demanding.
A trick apparently not practiced by the ancients was to follow the
plan of a selected cobble rather than make a circular
rough-out from a larger one. If the idea was just to make a big
enough hole to put your arm through then much time could have
been saved and prehistory would have left a variety of slightly
irregular shapes.In any case using good flaked dolerite or chert
chisel impactors and maximise width before breakthrough gives
best results.
The diagram below shows a selection with dates
of manufacture, present owner, rock type and LEPPR.
1.Early Nov.2008,Anna Tyacke,Greenstone,1.0+
2.21-29th
Nov.2008,Amanda Hill,Greenstone,1.1
3.4-15th
Dec.2008,Elizabeth Hill,Greenstone,1.1
4.16-22nd
Dec.2008,Pam,Greenstone,1.3
5.12-18th
Jan.2009,G.Hill,Greenstone,1.4
6.Apr.2009,G.Hill,Greenstone,1.4
Object 1 is of the Morbihan disc form. 2 is much
like a capsian mace. 3,4 and 5 are intermediate in
fineness,though wearable as bangles. 6 is as fine as
the North African examples though not round.
30 hours might be a reasonable time to make one:
faster and you risk breaking it!
Images:left to right;
Object 6
Objects 2,4 and 5 and
pinch effect between
hammer-stone and
bangle on the
fingertips and palm
is something that a
North African
may have recognised
5000 years ago!
17
Axe hammers atThe Museum of London
The Museum of London was revisited on 29/7/2011 and with the kind assistance of staff; not only were 2
drawn freely but faithfully behind the glass of the public displays, but a selection was made available from the
stores to handle and photograph.
Battle axe A14982 has a remarkable elongated perforation but the oblique views reveal the remains of an
hour-glass perforation which looks consistent with a longitudinally biased impactor technique with the extra
room to all but remove traces of the hour-glass at the ends of the perforation.
‘7 Perforated Stone Battle Axe A14982’
This has been drawn in its’ public display case so
there is no scale but proportions are quite accurate.
The excellent lighting allowed a good view of the
perforation, which is of elongated slot form with
rounded ends. At the centre of the perforation is a
ridge and above and below this, the perforation is
roughened and slightly dimpled. At the ends of the
perforation the ridge is reduced. A limey deposit
obscures futher internal details and may be from long
immersion in the Thames.
The work seems consistent with a pecked perforation
With most of the strikes slanting into the lonitudinal
direction. Likely little or no use of a saw or the fine
ridge could have been completely removed. The
polished ridge and rebounded slight cavity above this
suggest increasingly ineffective use of an impactor to
reduce the hour-glass. Never-the-less; patient work
produce a remarkable slot with LEPPR of 2.5
Top left: Faithful sketch of A14982.
Left and left below: Oblique side views of
perforation showing polished ridge.
Right: Oblique view of end of perforation
showing reduced ridge and limey cavities
above and below.
18
‘9 Lloyde Collectiion 49.107/157 Perforated Stone axe hammer Thames Ditton. Source of stone
Northern England.’Left: oblique view.
Middle: Sketches of smooth hour-glass perforation with indication of striations.LEPPR 1.3.
Right:Oblique view showing reciprocating sawing marks.
‘Thames Petersham Aug 18/87 49.107/161’
Left: Accurate drawings showing ancient damage and
hour-glass perforation. Elongated plan of a round
ended slot. LEPPR of 1.6.
Above and below: Photos showing damage to tip of
axe and limey deposit in perforation from immersion
in the Thames.
19
‘0.733’
Left: photo of plan of massive axe hammer.
Above: Accurate drawing. Slight LEPPR but not
exceeding 1.05. A coarse remnant of the hour-glass
is left as a ridge and rebound cavity.
Bottom right: Oblique view: Ridge and cavity are
visible, suggesting use of a blunt inpactor to
remove an hour-glass perforation.Flare and
chipping at the entrance may be remains of this.
20
Two implements briefly skeched from the MOL display cabinets
The photographs taken at The Museum of London are reproduced in this chapter by their kind
permission.
‘2 Greenstone Macehead, 2500 BC,
A147578’
A quick sketch of a beautiful cushion
mace-head. The perforation is cylindrical and
polished. In this respect it is similar to the the pair of
marbled black and white
cushion mace-heads in a nearby display
case. However, highlighted in the drawing are a set of
fine lengthwise striations nearly polished out near to
the entrance to the perforation. A sharp saw has been
used, indicating removal of a pecked hour-glass
perforation. Similar marks can be seen on
LIN-DE7E13 (ibid.)
‘Perforated Stone battle axe,
Kingston A26498’
The polished cylindrical hole
would have been quick to start with
a pecked hour-glass hole with all
evidence removed. A rotating sharp
implement has left circumferential
striations emphasised here.A flint
bit; halfted works very well to
produce this effect. This
experimenter recognises the marks;
see ‘Proper circular shaft holes’
(ibid.)
21
Conclusions about the perforating of hard stone implements
Informal and brief discussions with archaeologists in 2011 have shown that the subject of perforating ancient
stones is likely an already closed subject. An axe hammer noticed to have a slight eccentricity to the circular
perforation at Royal Cornwall Museum was not remarkable and another said that holes were made with emery
powder.
To understand how this consensus occurred then perhaps we must blame the success of the first Experimental
Archaeologist; ‘Flinders’ Petrie(Wikipedia) who was convincing in his descriptions of drilling tubular holes in
granite and diorite in Bronze Age Egypt and in his recognition of ancient drill cores(Petrie Museum) .He was
able to painstakingly bore out diorite vases using original illustrations as guides to his methods. Since then
other special cases such as the work of Paleo Indians, the industries of Bronze Age China and Indus Valley
have been conflated with the use of bow drills to make fire and drill fine holes in soft materials.
The contradictions to this paradigm are in plain sight. The quantities of non circular plan holes now appear to
have been under-estimated. Returning to MOL and RCM after my interest was piqued there are more
eccentric holes than the 3-5% I originally estimated. Additionally the working marks on artefacts are often
longitudinal and the perforation internal details on circular and eccentric holes alike have details which when
noticed at all by writers have been explained away without challenging original assumptions.
A.F. Chalmers in his treasured book; What is this thing called Science?’ explains a scientific paradigm of
interlocking ideas and practitioners. New theories and experiments for a time will embellish the existing work.
Inconvenient results will be clarified or ratoionalised away or just ignored. It may take the death of eminent
people in the field before other factors can bring about a crisis and the oportunity for maverick voices to be
heard and perhaps a paradigm shift to coalesce around a new set of ideas with lots of productive work to be
done to tidy up the loose ends.
If this document and associated stone objects are available to a hoped for new debate then the following
objects are suggested to have been perforated by pecking and not drilling;
Many non-descript ‘fishing’ and ‘thatch weights’of rude finish which often exhibit no exterior working.
Pebble mace-heads
Axe hammers
Shaft-hole axes and adzes
Battle axes
Maesmore mace-heads
Bangles and Capsian Maces
Pestle, ovoid and even cushion mace heads.
The reason why holes are circular is not dictated by technological constraint.
A significant minoriy are not circular and rather than try to explain them their significance continues to be
ignored.
In part 2 the manufacture of the holes in megaliths will be considered.
It is unlikely that anyone who considers the subject will suggest that they were drilled but there is still
research to be done.
How long did they take to manufacture?
What was used to make the holes?
What were the reasons for making the holes?
Are there signs of human pecking bias i.e. the LEPPR seen in the smaller stones?
22
23
Part 2
Pierced Granite Megaliths: a local distraction from making stone implements.
Cornwall has a nationally known holed granite slab called Men-an-Tol.
Whilst attempting to find how it was made this experimenter discovered that several people were of the
opinion that it was of natural origin, drawing parallels with the ‘tea-cups’(John Buchanon,2011); some
remarkable cascading bath-sized depressions in a horizontal granite slab on a Tor at the top of Carn Brea near
Redruth, Cornwall.Ian Cooke in ‘Journey to the Stones’ writes of Men-an-Tol:
‘If you look at the shape of the holed stone you may notice that whereas its western face is quite flat, the
opposite side is very obviously rounded with the hole itself splayed out far more, so that it makes a funnel
shape. The stone probably once laid horizontally as part of a stack of natural granite slabs of the type to be
seen on top of many rocky outcrops in West Penwith with its flat side resting on the stone beneath and the
round side upwards. The hole may have been a ‘ rock basin’ ,partially or completely worn through by the
weather over many thousands of years…’
Men-an-Tol is but one of a class of perforated granite stones and they all have substantially circular plan
perforations. It stretches belief that they were all natural, but evidence will be required from their study and
attempts at reproduction.
Images from Carn Brae: Far left; an oval rock basin
Left; ‘the tea-cups’
These features share steep, near
perpendicular walls. Men-an-Tol if of
natural origin has an unusual near
circular plan.
Men-an-Tol. Looking from the flared side of the hole. This
intersects a diagonal crack running from a nick visble in the
top leaving a triangular chip missing above the flared hole.
The hole is slightly egg shaped in plan and much of the
upper edge has been pecked to flat edge facets to maintain a
nearly equal amount of rock width around the central hole.
In Belerion(1981)Craig Weatherhill describes Men-an-Tol’s
location :
‘Like other holed stones in the district, it is within sight of a
Stone circle – the Boskednan Nine Maidens can be seen on
the skyline to the east…’
After discussing most of the remaining holed stones in
Cornwall a pierced megalith will be recreated(p.30) and the
features of Men-an-Tol described above; explained.
24
Holed stone gate-post near Merry Maidens stone circle and some disappearances.
William Borlase(1769) describes this holed stone and others nearby:
‘About 65 paces exactly North of Rofmodreuy Circle in Burien, Cornwall, is a flat stone, fix inches thick at a
medium, two foot fix wide, and five foot high; 15 inches below the top, it has a hole fix inches diameter, quite
through. In the adjoining hedge I perceived another, holed in the fame manner; and in one wall of the village,
near by, a third of like make.’[I could not help leaving in the old printer’s ‘f’s].
William’s grand-son;William Copeland Borlase produced a map(1872) which shows all 3 holed stones.
Ian Cooke(1987) takes up the story:
‘Of the three holed stones marked, only the one immediately to the north-west of the circle exists. It is now
used as a gate post to the field on the far side of the road from the ‘Maidens’,at 43242457, and is about 5 and a
half feet high with a small hole about six inches in diameter being “ sharply cut” near to the top edge of the
stone. The hole seems to be too straight edged to be ancient.
Of the other two, a smallish rectangular holed stone previously built into a hedge on the other side of the lane
to the east of the circle was removed about 1960. The third holed stone once lay in the corner of the field to
the east of the Circle.’
The perforation is a comfortable size for putting hands through and it has therefore often been suggested that
it was used for shaking hands inside to make bargains and commitments. In its’ present position at the end of a
stone hedge, overgrown with gorse bushes one party would have had the worst of the bargain as was
discovered when surveying the obscured side.
Cornwall Record Office has a photo of ‘Choone Holed Stone’(google)taken in c.1860s with the comment that
it was ‘difficult to determine whether it was used as a gatepost at the time’.A postcard of Choone Holed
Stone,St. Buryan c.1905 with the caption: ‘The Whipping Stock Stone’is noted to be at a 90 degree angle to
its’ present position and that seen in the previous photograph.
This experimenter has found that coarse granite cobbles, like another cornish stone; serpentine is quite easily
broken. It was a relief to work larger pieces. These were perforated with larger flaked dolerite pebbles ; all
available on Werrytown beach, Penzance.
The next images in order give date of perforation, present owner, location and LEPPR.
Images left and right: A massive granite gate post
near to The Merry
Maidens standing stones.
The entrance to the hole is
quite sharp with straight
sides to a strongly spalled-
out back visible in the
upper right photo. The
pencil demonstrates the
LEPPR of 1.1.
Though it appears to have
been hand driven from the
gate side with the slab
lying on the ground, the
hole presents some
difficulties as a
prehistoric piece…
25
Item 3 bears some similarity to the Merry Maidens holed stone, but at about 80kg it was just possible to
move it to work from both sides; so no back spall occurred. To have completed this hole from one side in a
working space of a little over 0.1 metres diameter would have been difficult. The ancient example has only
slightly greater room to aim dolerite boulders. (Incidentally this experimenter is convinced of what hammer-
stones were used by ancient peoples).There seem to be 2 ways of completing the perforation with stones:
1.Throw the rock in. This works but occasionally the rock bounces out in an unexpected way and bites you!
2.Work in a cramped, uncomfortable style; achieving weak blows, stress injuries and eventually a skinned or
bruised finger(s) which ends your work session.
Robin Payne writes of the Merry Maidens holed stone: ‘The age of this stone is uncertain.’(Payne,1999)
Whilst not able to prove it, this experimenter suggests that the stone was perforated by a long steel rod ,
hammered in the tradition of Cornish hard rock miners, who have left distinctive sub-triangular 1” across
holes found in many quarried blocks in this locale.How making inch holes translates into one of about 6
inches diameter is something a miner would have to explain.
The large spall(relative to other holed stones) on the back of the slab may be evidence of this more powerful
percussion if not the rotten nature of the granite in contact with the ground surface.
Geever.com says: ‘From the 17th
century techniques for drilling holes in rock were developed.In Cornwall a drill rod, or ‘boryer’ was used to create the hole using a hammer. The boryer was turned after each hit of the
hammer, this would chip out a piece of rock. This would eventually create a round hole.’
A motivation for the work may have been as an embellishment for an attractive though locally not unique
stone circle; perhaps enhancing the potential income for a tourist guide.
Drawings: a selection of coarse granite
perforated slabs.
1.20th
Feb2009,W.Thomas,Sennen,1.2
2.11th
Mar2009,G.Hill,Heamoor,1.1
3.17-19th
Mar2009.Left on beach at
SW4676429441.Has reappeared
several times in the shingle, but not for
over a year.Lost?1.1
Images left to right: Breakthrough(with flaked dolerite hammer). Installation at Newlyn Art
Gallery after transporting it along the sea wall lashed to a skate-board and lost after 2 weeks.
Item ‘3’widened from an hour-glass in a further 5 hours to allow my hand through.
Temporary installation in the tidal zone before disappearing and reappearing several times
and lost in shingle at Werrytown beach, Penzance.
26
The Tolvan Stone.
This was the object of my search after seeing an engraving from 1880(Cooke,1887) by J.T.Blight.
Not in the public domain; the owners kindly allowed me to make all the measurements needed. The stone is
of impressive size. It leans at angle of 15 degrees to the vertical and would seem precarious but for the
evidence from the engraving which shows that it has since been reburied to nearly 1 metre greater depth.
John Buchanon points out that standing stones often have different species of lichen on each side and indeed
the mossy eastern face has a type made of orange bodies and the western side has a flaky grey species.
The perforation has a slightly rounded entrance with greater smoothness at the bottom as though from wear of
many passages through it. The hole is elongated in the direction of the longest axis and has a LEPPR of 1.1.
The western side of the hole is smoothed and rounded again at the bottom, but with torn, spalled steps above
to the exit of the hole. It would seem that the slab was perforated from one side then raised vertical. A 3 metre
tall and ?4 tonne megalith would have been difficult to move in any era. The stone is obviously cherished
by its’ owners but it has suffered in the past. There are 3 hand thrown sub-triangular miners’ boryer holes,
perhaps associated with controlling the movement of the stone during reburial?
Images:Top left; Present ground view, section through perforation and tilt
with estimated view of stone from
1880 engraving, which appeared
to be standing vertically.
Lower left to right photos:
Detail of West side and inside
hole;stepped, fractured and likely
spalled exit visible and true tilt.
2 views; oblique and upwards view of
sheltered East face.One of the miners’
drill holes is just visible above the
perforation. The other face is almost
without moss and the granite surface
slightly more orange(decomposed).
Access to the Tolvan Stone granted by kind
permission of the owners of Tolven Cross
Cottage.
27
The Kenidjack Common holed stones near Tregeseal stone circle
From accurate directions in Belerion(Weatherhill,1981) ,Explorer102 map(OS,2003) and a compass the 5
stones were easy to find, despite 2 being broken and invisible below the height of the gorse. The spiny
vegetation makes even the footpaths passable only with good leg protection. It might be that there are other
antiquities hidden and an unfotunate fire would at least give the opportuity for a GPS aided survey.
Edmonds(1862) writes on page 91: ‘Granite slabs from 3 to 6 feet long, each perforated with a hole of about 5
inches bore, have been found near these temples[Tregeseal stone circle(s)]. Four such, including a broken one
are lying on the common, about a quarter of a mile north-east-by-east of the Tregeseal temple; and two may
be seen near the Dawns Myin, at the gaps or entrances into fields, one on the north across the great road, the
other towards the east. These “holed stones” are supposed to have been used for securing the victims. And
Toland, in his History of the Druids, speaking of two circular temples in the Orkney Islands, says:- “Near the lesser temple stand 2 stones….through the middle of which is a large hole to which criminals and
Victims were tied.”8’
Later on page 210;Edmonds relating to Carn Kenidjack refers to: ‘four “holed stones”.’
Given that there are some inaccuracies in the account; for instance the hole diameters of 5 inches (most are
about 3), there is still the strange inference that on the common in the area of Tregeseal stone circle and Carn
Kenidjack; since 1862 the number of holed stones has increased from 4 to 5!
Rediscovered by J.T.Blight(1864) in this state; it has been
repaired with concrete, visible on the stump.3 inch diameter hour-
glass perforation and corroded surfaces from long recumbent
position on acidic moorland. Stone 5(Weatherhill,1989).
Blight in his pamphlet(1864) shows this and the other stones
recumbent.It has been knocked over again in recent
years,perhaps by cattle. Easier to hole when a standing stone;
the holes have never-the-less been slightly mis-aligned,
giving the hour-glass an angled throat.Stone 4.
angled
Late Extra: stone 5 has been repaired at a cost of £4500 using stainless steel pins and attached to a
granite plinth.(The Cornishman, Sept.1,2011). I had ‘choked’when an earlier edition had shown a
picture of stone 1. Project Senior Archaeologist Ann Preston-Jones put my mind to rest! Read on.
28
A second visit to the stones clears up discontinueties between the accounts. The Unperforated stone
(Weatherhill,1981),lying recumbent in the row is in fact broken in half with an hour-glass cavity in section.
This is nicely shown in a plate with the then 3 other recumbent stones drawn by J.T.Blight (1864) in position
between perforated stone 2 and 3(Weatherhill,1981).
Not wide based like 2; Blight’s drawing suggested that
after resting on the ground this stone was embedded
about a foot. Sited near one end; it was easier to aim the
cone holes to meet accurately. The narrowest point was
chosen to make the 3 inch hole. Stone 3.
A near rectangular slab, buried nearly 2 feet(Blight’s
recumbent drawing) and a skewed hour-glass hole. If
well founded, the stone could have been holed standing.
Stone 2.
Stone ‘2 and a half’with a hole pecked at the narrowest
point and another driven blind towards it slightly off-
target, leaving the skewed hour-glass neck.
29
And the LEPPR of these stones is? These holes are small compared to the width in plan of the stones and any
eccentricites were dominated by misalignment when pecking blind from both sides so the near circular holes
were not unexpected.Stone 1 tells a different story:
Cemented stone, found re- broken.
Near cylindrical perforation with
massive spall removing back of
stone.In foreground is top of stone
with break and interior of hole
nearest.2 30cm rulers,compass and
GPS gadget are in view.In section
drawing feathered arrow points to
partial circumference remaining
sharp lip from when bottom of
cavity spalled out.The near right-
angled internal profile is unlike the
approximate 20mm radius of
curvature achieved with adequate
working space when using flaked
stone tools(see later photo by Dave
Edwards) in ‘How to make Men-an-
Tol’(ibid) and to this experimenter is
proof that stone 1 was not holed by
stones and likely by a boryer,perhaps
breaking the stone when it
spalled, so that the lip was left
without thought of removal.
In 2011 stone ‘5’ was repaired and Ann Preston-Jones kindly sent me a copy of the
report:Kenidjack holed stone, St Just, Cornwall. Repair and restoration.Preston-
Jones.A.2011.Historic Environment Projects.
It contains an authoratitive account of the history of the stones and includes my comments
about stone 1.
30
Some Early Medieval metal chiselled perforations.
Granite stones continued to be pierced after the use of stone tools for the purpose was superceded in the
Iron Age. Whilst the circle and even the cross are archetypal symbols and so pre-date the Christian era ie
Bronze-Age wheel-headed pins, which combine both of these motifs(Briard,1979); stone crosses measured
here do not pre-date the use of iron tools and indeed the Penlee Market Cross has been exactly dated to 1007
by Charles Thomas(1999) from his decipherment of the inscriptions on the sides.
The blind holes and engraved decorations including the 4 triangles that delineate the market cross have an
internal profile fitting a finger tip with steep sided tapered sides. In the case of the Paul cross this leads to a
gently tapered set of hour-glass holes; too deep to be easily achieved by stone tools and suggesting that iron
chisels were used. They must have suffered from the quartz content of the granite and so became abraded and
deformed to produce the finger-tip bottom of hole profiles.
Stone 1.The lower surface has
been measured with a profile
guage and shows the partial
circumference sharp lip remaining
at this point with the spalled area
behind. The rest of the cavity is
dashed in and my hand is shown
to scale, trying to wield a 1kg+
flaked tip hammer-stone to try to
produce the sharp corner.
Imagine the difficulty of
producing this without damaging
the wrist, fingers or knuckles;
hence the boryer (steel mining
rod) suggestion.The Merry
Maidens holede stone cavity is
narrower and longer and spalled
on one side so is also under
suspicion as being made with
long metal tooling.
Holed stone 1
Image left:On returning to the Kenidjack stones this explicit
method of showing the sharp lip and spalled back was used.
On the nearly shear side are 2 and one third Lego bricks.
The cavity is quite smooth and even slightly expanded with
a second expansion before the lip.A core drill with 7inch
external diameter seems unlikely.If the miner chiselled an
annulus with boryer, leaving a core; this might produce the
feature.
J.T.Blight(1864) describes an unfinished stone outlying the Kenidjack group and Ian Cooke(1987) suggests that it is this
one; now finished!
31
How to make Men-an-Tol
With thanks to the Thomas family and Fred who farm the land around Clodgy Moor, this experimenter was
allowed the opportuity to manipulate some large granite slabs that Fred had lifted out of the fields with his
low-loader.
The motivation for this project was multiple and complex, but certainly was an attempt to understand
how Men-an-Tol was made whilst paying tribute to the people who left their flintwork, greenstone
axes and pottery there around four and a half thousand years ago.As a totem to attract interest and
funds for a project to research those artefacts its efficacy was less certain. Rather I should like to thank
Anna Tyacke, Andy Jones and others for their efforts to bring that project to reality.
Through early 2009 granites of increasing size were holed on the beach at Werrytown. There were many kinds
of cobbles to use as hammer-stones.Greenstones proved too soft against the quartz in the granite matrix
whilst vein quartz was too fragile. The toughest smooth dolerite; a reheated fine grained basalt and
known as blue elvan in Cornwall was available on the beach. As smooth pebbles it made a blunt and bruising
attack; easily capable of splitting all but the largest slabs. Selected nosed or spindle shaped pebbles in the 0.5-
1.5kg range made single and double handed hammers of greater effectiveness.
It was noticed that a rough facet would be worn on the hammer after many strikes which improved the grip
on impact and spalling action.
Dry work was acceptable when working with the wind to take away harmful dust, but it was felt that keeping
the hammered surface wet had some beneficial effects, listed below:
1.Laying dust, making working more bearable, though it was still important to remove splashed clothing
before it dried in a dwelling.
2.Temporary white spot appears on impact, giving good visual feedback about the hammer effect.
3.Water flush removes debri so that it does not act as a cushion to further progress.
4.Water penetrates cracks so that hammer shock is transmitted more effectively with the possibility of
removing relatively larger pieces rather than just crushing them.
5. Belief in a method is what a human needs and leads from attempt to success. ‘ Water works!’
In May 2009, having selected a granite slab, a knapsack of dolerite cobbles was carried from Werrytown
beach to the site just over 3km away.
The Clodgy Moor spring provided water to wet the stone and it was found that no more than a dozen hammers
were used in the work.They were resharpened by striking them together. One had a good flat side and
Images:left; Paul cross with upper left detail(green) recorded in
section(red).
Lower: Penlee Market Cross with
blind holes in section with position
on monument(small sketch) shown
by arrows.
The taper of the holes is similar.
32
became a favourite anvil for this.A similar hammer-stone re-used as an anvil is drawn in Prehistoric Extractive
Metallurgy in Cornwall (Budd,1992).
To complete this digression: The most tough rock; jadeite is removed as large flakes by lighting
a fire next to one of the naturally occurring blocks high in the Alps.(Edmonds,2010) At the nicely
judged moment when the rock is about to burst, a great blow from a hammer-stone frees a flake of
suitable size; often 20cm and rarely as seen with one of the Morbihan celts; much longer.
Returning to the 1 tonne granite slab. Its’ awkward sub-triangular plan meant that to fit a hole into it
of the half metre diameter to replicate Men-an-Tol would have been at some risk of breaking the
slab, so a conservative approach of following the sides was adopted. This gave a maximum
dimension of 0.6 metres and the chance for a smaller adult(me) to be able to squeeze through.
Images from Experimental Archaeology
(Hill,unpubl.):760g and 1kg+ dolerite hammers from
the dozen used to perforate Clodgy Moor
megalith.The lower one has also been used as an anvil
to resharpen the others.
Known as bloc-en-bloc technique; this is thought to
have been the earliest human method of flaking stones
and as well as being dangerous to the worker and
those around them(Lord,1993) it is considered to be
difficult to control.However this experimenter;
realising that it was the most powerful percussive
method and having learnt from the megalith project,
was able to remove large dolerite flakes to fashion into
the largest and thinnest of axes from late 2009.
onwards
Images: Confidence about how to strike against
an anvil of similar material, angled to send
debri away from the face was developed to the
point where rough-outs in the upper image could
be made. The large flakes were trimmed against
the anvil stone until of triangular form.Notice
that leather is wrapped around the palm as the
rough-out can recoil to cut the skin.In any case
this group, taking several hours was all that
could be done in one session due to the
punishment to tissues, nerves and joints.
Lower image;left to right: Partially ground rough-
out, 3 finished dolerite celts and a greenstone
example in slightly softer stone of the type
worked more conventionally by hammer-stone in
Prehistoric times in Cornwall. This can be can be
seen by study of unfinished examples ie 567.1
(Hill,2009,unpubl.)
33
56 hours of effort completed the perforation. A maximum session of five and a half hours was
achieved but nearer to 3 hours at a time was optimal, needing only 24 hours to recover without
lasting damage.It was found that it took an hour or so to get into the feel of the activety and become
relaxed and efficient. Holding the hammer-stone lightly and going with the bounce meant that
gloves were not needed, although they were conspicuously worn with ear defenders for publicity
photos. Stopping the ears made working more comfortable and could have been achieved with
chewed leaves in ancient times. As well as improving concentration it allowed the illusion of
the rock being soft which was good for morale and stamina. Occasionally a euphoric session was
ended by the contact of a knuckle on suddenly real granite.
On June 9
th before Fred had had a chance to move the stone, I tried some wooden levers and log
rollers.After some practice a good technique rowed the stone 10 metres in a few hours. A foundation
trenchwas dug, largely with an iron gardening fork; antler picks not being in my shed. However
some boulders could only be dislodged by using hammer-stones, restoring the Prehistoric reverie.
Image: Clodgy Moor megalith.Incised with flint tools is
an engraved airliner with contrails on the sheltered inner
wall of the perforation.Under the trench for the kerb-
stone foundation ; wrapped in 7 layers of polythene to
delay the reaction with acidified water is an airliner
impressed concrete egg cotaining a rattling die-cast
model of a 777 airliner.
Both of these details are to explain to future observers in
case our documentation is lost at the possible end of
World Civilisation; that this stone was raised by the
Airliner culture and not their distant and respected
ancestors(Fossilism,forthcoming). Less than a year later
the installation had ‘bedded in’ and the experimenter was
not able to easily explain to 2 enthuisiastic European
hikers that the stone was not Bronze-Age and rather than
seem crazy, left them to take their pictures.
Images:Finished
with hammer-
stones used.
Image right:
Upright;revealing
spalled lip to
underside and
kerb covering
foundation
packing.
34
The nearby rock pile provided the material to chock the gap made by levering the slab. Doing both at
once was possible by putting most of my weight in granite on the lever so that I could depress it
one handed whilst throwing in a rock with the other. There do not seem to be economies of scale
with this operation in that a slab twice as large would need more than 2 people as they would need to
apply their effort simultaneiously without getting in each others’ way. A 32 tonne stone was moved
and erected in France in 1979 with 3 teams of 20 people(Bahn,2004) showing a halving of
efficiency. 1 person can move 1 tonne over flat turf, but up a slope; for instance to cap a quoit would
have multiplied the number. The ramp system for such a project was judged outside the capability of
this experimenter. A rugby team would manage the task but might find it dangerous.
Returning to Men-an-Tol:
Given its volume of removal of granite at about 0.04 cubic metres, compared to half that volume for
The Clodgy Moor monolith which took 56 hours in slightly more cramped conditions then to hole
Men-an-Tol took close to 100 hours. It is apparent from the tension splits in the granite close to the
widened exit that all the work was done from one side and hence the hole was made with the slab
lying on the ground.The flared lip is at the same side as these splits and seems to have been made in
order to cosmetically improve the spalled exit to the hole. A crack has developed; almost splitting the
stone. This makes it less likely that the hole was developed from a natural water cut basin as any
weakness or fissure would have been exploited. Rather it occurred during manufacture or after.
The outside of the slab visible above ground has been trimmed to make it more circular. This could
have been achieved by a helper under instruction from the ‘master’ working in the middle. The wind
carrying dust and flying chips would have likely prevented more than 2 people working at a time.
Images:
Breaking through.
Photo; Dave Edwards.
Rolling on logs with first
inadequate lever.
Raising a tonne with a
proper lever. 30kg ballast
is a friend you can’t
maim!
It is then quite easy to lean
on the lever whilst
shoving in another piece
of granite packing.
Images:
Levering the slab into the
foundation trench.
Plumb-bob vertical:.2-layers of
packing stones left loose in the
foundation, then hammered tight
after pulling the slab the last 1-2
degrees by hand.
Spall on underneath of slab
partly dressed away with
hammer-stone to leave a
chamfer.
35
The eccentricity of the hole is extended towards the longest dimension where a slight point is formed
Between the beginning of working of the flat outside edge and the natural ragged edge.Maximum
width in this direction is 0.51m and at right angles to it; 0.45m, giving a LEPPR of 1.1.
Conclusions: Implements and Holed Megaliths
The act of making a hole through a difficult material is a significant act to a human being.
It may be inspired by an example from nature or by being challenged by the achievement of others.
Once completed; the object may be regarded as practical; such as a bone needle or the less embellished kinds
of axe-hammer.
There are suggestions that some of these perforated objects; for instance highly refined battle-axes were too
fragile to use as weapons and indeed are often undamaged. Other mace-heads had too small a perforation
diameter for a strong haft. The Bush Barrow example(Megaw,1979) may have had a gold leaf decorated haft
according to some reconstructions; further detracting from its’ utility.The fantastic burial from Varna,
Bulgaria does include a slender battle-axe with a gold decorated haft(Cunliffe,1998)
Many other objects have suggested or assumed practical uses and this is reflected in their labelling as maces
and axe-hammers in museum collections.Holed megaliths also receive this treatment with the larger ones;
such as Men-an-Tol being popularly described as entrances to passage graves(Daniel,1960) and being
invested with the function of curing various ailments by climbing through; particularly back pain; of course!
The slightly smaller perforation of Tolvan stone was considered more suitable for passing babies and children
through for some benefit.The utilitarian argument continues with the smaller hole of the (surviving)
Merry Maidens perforated stone being a size to shake hands within to seal a bargain. The Kenidjack holed
stones with perforations large enough for one hand to go through are with reference to the Druids thought to
have been used to tether human sacrifices and perhaps later; criminals.
Without entirely rejecting these practical suggestions; this writer suspects that humans are wishing to
find a practical purpose or function to these objects in order to satisfy their own need to explain things of
apparently great age and human effort.
It has been the experience of this experimenter that when told of the actual amount of time taken to make a
stone mace or perforate a megalith, people are mildly surprised that although hours or even a few tens of
hours are involved, the amount of time taken is not as great as they would have imagined and certainly well
within the scale of tasks that hobbyists consider today. It is with that thought that it is possible to suggest more
expedient reasons for these seemingly epic and timeless pieces.If we understand the Patience Stone we may
Images:Top left; top edge showing worked flat facets and curved natural on right of stone.
Lower right;Crack in flared side of hole.
Middle; same side with interior of hole.
Drawing; Slab is wider at the base and seems to therefore need only a shallow foundation.
Other recumbent and re-raised stones nearby may have been part of a stone circle.
36
see a meditation in the process of making it and its’subsequent persistence as merely an artefact of the
material used. The content of the meditation may be a personal matter but it will surely be guided by the
practical technique of repetitive, yet focussed activety in a rotated stone with the world available to perception
between the strikes.There is a vast body of human activety involving repetitive drumming, chanting, dancing
etc in order to achieve an altered state of consciousness and wheras we may wish to trivialise or even
condemn these activities in the present day unless they produce results that do not challenge the accepted
world view,we are safe to project our inner life on to ‘primitive cultures’ and their practices in the past.
Given the circular symbolism ascribed to many Neolithic and Bronze Age structures ie causewayed
enclosures, henges, stone circles, barrows and round-houses it might be feasable to include the
perforated stone objects in this group.
Before many had been removed and destroyed, W. Borlase and other antiquarians noted an association
between megalithic perforated stones and stone circles and this writer would suggest that they symbollically
represent a similar concept.The stone circles have been given solar observatory/callendrical associatons but
the perforated stones have often been resited and will not carry this information if ever they did, but there
remains a circle in the stone to perhaps represent the year, world and cosmos.
Carrying this association on to stone portable ‘implements’ is based upon them being intergrated within this
world. The suspicion of impracticality, combined with lack of use damage to many of them may support this
idea.
The practice of perforating and making these objects has produced a reverie during the process; trance-like yet
aware of the world around and focussed on the task by the discipline of stone impacting next to skin.There has
been a detachment from the immediate business of daily life and an opportunity to meditate on the properties
of stone and the human in their world and this has led to the perception that the act of perforating a stone is a
metaphor for the action of humans in their environment; in an uneasy and changing position between that of
animals and gods.Oscar Wilde states our situation in one of his best known observations:
‘We are all in the gutter,but some of us are looking at the stars.’
The discovery of the ease of making non-circular holes in stone and its’ numerical expression as LEPPR has
shown that for the most part (19 times out of 20) humans from the Mesolithic to the end of the Bronze Age
tempered their practical expression with a subservience to ‘the Great Scheme of Things’. Holes were
close to circular so as not to step too far out of the cycle of nature and upset the gods. Some of the Bronze Age
axe hammers i.e. the Museum of London 2.5 LEPPR example seem to have tested this balance and may have
represented a new confidence of elites to dominate man and nature. This may have been premature.
The circular perforation persisted in the manufacture of metal objects with copper battle-axes in
Yaroslav burials and axes and adzes from Maikop barrow(Childe,1957) retaining this feature.As new
implements were developed using split mold technology ie socketed axes and sickles non circular forms
became the norm. The later Bronze age Irish Dowris phase tools(Megaw,1979) with oval, square and
rectangular cavities for hafting would be examples. The circular symbol was now carried instead on many
other articles as a decorative element ornamenting surfaces as well as in circular objects, such as bracelets,
torcs, terminal discs, enlarged pin heads, ornamental metal shields and dress fastenings.The act of making a
hole has been reproduced in all parts of daily life in decorative objects and decoration. The circle is given its’
explicit meaning of rotation by turning it into a spiral and this trope is set free across the object in the lively
movement of la Tene, Celtic and its’ revivals such as Art Nouveau.Meanwhile the implement is freed to be
a practical object without compromise. Iron tools such as the Bulbury Hoard, Dorset from the first century
B.C.(Cunliffe,1978) are similar to those used today. Humans were now acting to harness nature and people
with less deference to the balance of nature. Those with ambition and good fortune might be as gods with
followers or subjects to pay tribute to them.
There is in Cornwall today as elsewhere a sometimes peaceful, sometimes less happy dialogue between
bearers of different belief systems. What is today called Paganism; in this writer’s opinion is a revival of what
was a logically consistent way of the first sedentary farmers marking the seasons and interceding with the
gods of nature to bring a good harvest and guard against natural disaters and tragedies. The human urge to
give thanks with offerings and to bribe the gods with great sacrifices leads entirely logically to human
sacrifice and despite its’ great failings; too numerous to mention, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ ‘for all our
sins’ is a unique and progressive selling point for the Christian religion inflicted on the ‘Celts’ by the
conquering Romans and perhaps at last abolishing the deep tradition of human sacrfice.Having offended both
sides of my family this atheist still feels the need to invent a god in order to put him in his human place.
Meanwhile here is a little tableaux of the battle; perhaps not meant to have any conscious meaning but now
37
sealed in position by acts of law as a ‘scheduled ancient monument’ and repeated to me that “ it must not be
moved” by the present encumbrant.
That holed stone is described by J.T.Blight(1864): ‘In the vicarage garden, St. Just is a holed stone 2ft 6ins wide, 2ft high, 8ins thick, and with a hole 6 ins in diameter. It was brought by the late Mr Buller from near the site of the very remarkable
intersecting circles at Botallach, now destroyed.’
Access to this stone by kind permission of the occupiers of St. Just Vicarage.
Acknowledgements The Museum of London; Cathy Ross , Jon Cotton and staff
The Penlee Gallery and Museum; Nicholas Thomas and staff.
The Portable Antiquities Scheme
Fiona Roe
St. Just Vicarage holed stone custodians.
The Tolvan Stone; custodians.
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St.Just Vicarage:
The cross on the
wheel of granite
with another incised
into it is
upright with the
broken holed stone
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known about the other half.
38
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39