Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-r6qrq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-29T22:38:14.458Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Circulation of Neolithic Stone and Flint Axes: A Case Study from Wales and the Mid-West of England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2014

Timothy Darvill*
Affiliation:
1 The Grove, Dyehouse, Woodchester, Stroud, Gloucestershire GL5 5EZ

Abstract

This paper examines the distribution of stone and flint axes in Wales and the mid-west of England based on systematically collected data. Typological variations within the category of implements generally known as axes are discussed, and the distribution of the largest group, true axes, analysed. Three types of distribution are identified: regional distribution, local distribution and waterborne distribution. Proximity of source is shown to play a major role in the frequency and range of axes present in any given area.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1989

Access options

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

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Avery, M. 1982. The Neolithic enclosure, Abingdon. In Case, H. J. and Whittle, A. W. R. (eds), Settlement Patterns in the Oxford Region: Excavations at the Abingdon Causewayed Enclosure and Other Sites, 1050. London: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 44.Google Scholar
Bamford, H. M. 1985. Briar Hill — Excavation 1974–1978. Northampton: Northampton Development Corporation.Google Scholar
Bradley, R. 1982. Position and possession: assemblage variation in the British Neolithic. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 1, 2738.Google Scholar
Bradley, R. 1984. The Social Foundations of Prehistoric Britain. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Britnell, W. J. 1984. The Gwernvale long cairn, Crickhowell, Brecknock. In Britnell, W. J. and Savory, H. N. (eds), Gwernvale and Penywyrlod: Two Neolithic Long Cairns in the Black Mountains of Brecknock, 43154. Bangor: Cambrian Archaeological Association Monograph 2.Google Scholar
Clark, J. G. D. 1965. Traffic in stone axe and adze blades. Economic History Review 18, 128.Google Scholar
Clark, J. G. D., Higgs, E. S. and Longworth, I. H. 1960. Excavations at the Neolithic site at Hurst Fen, Mildenhall, Suffolk, 1954, 1957 and 1958. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 26, 202–45.Google Scholar
Cummins, W. A. 1974. Neolithic stone axe trade in Britain. Antiquity 48, 201205.Google Scholar
Cummins, W. A. 1979. Neolithic stone axes: distribution and trade in England and Wales. In Clough, T. H. McK. and Cummins, W. A. (eds), Stone Axe Studies, 512. London: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 23.Google Scholar
Cummins, W. A. 1980. Stone axes as a guide to Neolithic communications and boundaries in England and Wales. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 46, 4560.Google Scholar
Darbishire, R. D. 1874. Notes on discoveries in Ehenside Tarn, Cumberland. Archaeologia 44, 273–92.Google Scholar
Darvill, T. C. 1983. The Neolithic of Wales and the Mid-west of England: A Systemic Analysis of Social Change through the Application of Action Theory. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis. University of Southampton.Google Scholar
Darvill, T. C. 1984. Neolithic Gloucestershire. In Saville, A. (ed.), Archaeology in Gloucestershire — from the Earliest Hunters to the Industrial Age, 80112. Cheltenham: Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society and Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museums.Google Scholar
Darvill, T. C. and Staelens, Y. 1985. A ‘Cumbrian’ type polished stone axe from Shropshire. Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 32, 260–67.Google Scholar
Davies, J. 1961. Stone axes from near Dinas, Llanfairfechan. Transactions of the Caernarvonshire Historical Society 22, 15.Google Scholar
Elliott, K., Ellman, D. and Hodder, I. 1978. The simulation of Neolithic axe dispersal in Britain. In Hodder, I. (ed.), Simulation Studies in Archaeology, 7987. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Glenn, T. A. 1914. Exploration of Neolithic station near Gwaenysgor, Flintshire. Archaeologia Cambrensis 69, 247–70.Google Scholar
Glenn, T. A. 1935. Distribution of the Graig Lwyd axe and its associated cultures. Archaeologia Cambrensis 90, 189214.Google Scholar
Grimes, W. F. 1979. The history of implement petrology in Britain. In Clough, T. H. McK. and Cummins, W. A. (eds), Stone Axe Studies, 14. London: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 23.Google Scholar
Hodder, I. and Lane, P. 1982. A contextual examination of Neolithic axe distributions in Britain. In Ericson, J. E. and Earl, T. K. (eds), Context for Prehistoric Exchange, 213–35. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Hodder, I. and Orton, C. 1976. Spatial Analysis in Archaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Houlder, C. 1961. The excavation of a Neolithic stone implement factory on Mynydd Rhiw in Caernarvonshire. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 27, 108–43.Google Scholar
Houlder, C. 1976. Stone axes and henge monuments. In Boon, G. and Lewis, J. (eds), Welsh Antiquity, 5562. Cardiff: National Museum of Wales.Google Scholar
Howell, J. M. 1981. The typology of Scottish stone axes. Scottish Archaeological Forum 11, 1524.Google Scholar
Keiller, A. 1936. Two axes of Presely stone from Ireland. Antiquity 10, 220–21.Google Scholar
Kendall, K. G. O. 1922. Scraper core industries in north Wiltshire. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia 3, 515–41.Google Scholar
Lacaille, A. D. 1963. Three grinding stones. Antiquaries Journal 43, 190–96.Google Scholar
Manby, T. G. 1979. Typology, materials, and distribution of flint and stone axes in Yorkshire. In Clough, T. H. McK. and Cummins, W. A. (eds), Stone Axe Studies, 6581. London: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 23.Google Scholar
Mercer, R. J. 1981. Excavations at Carn Brea, Illogan, Cornwall, 1970–73. Cornish Archaeology 20, 1204.Google Scholar
Orme, B. J. and Coles, J. M. 1983. Prehistoric woodworking from the Somerset Levels: Timber. Somerset Levels Papers 9, 1943.Google Scholar
Passmore, A. D. 1940. Flint mines at Liddington. Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine 49, 118–19.Google Scholar
Piggott, S. 1954. Neolithic Cultures of the British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Piggott, S. 1963. The West Kennet Long Barrow Excavations 1955–56. London: Ministry of Works Archaeological Reports 4.Google Scholar
Savory, H. N. 1970. Waisted Neolithic axe-heads from mid-Wales. Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 24, 9598.Google Scholar
Savory, H. N. 1971. A Neolithic stone axe and handle. Antiquaries Journal 51, 296–97.Google Scholar
Smith, I. F. 1965. Windmill Hill and Avebury — Excavations by Alexander Keiller 1925–1939. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Smith, I. F. 1979. The chronology of British stone implements. In Clough, T. H. McK. and Cummins, W. A. (eds), Stone Axe Studies, 1321. London: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 23.Google Scholar
Stenberger, M. no date. Sweden (= Ancient Peoples and Places volume 30). London: Thames and Hudson.Google Scholar
Thomas, H. H. and Passmore, A. D. 1929. Notes on stone implements of material foreign to Wiltshire in the collection of Mr A. D. Passmore. Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine 44, 246–47.Google Scholar
Tyler, A. 1976. Neolithic Flint Axes from the Cotswold Hills. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, British Series 25.Google Scholar
Wainwright, G. J. 1967. Coygan Camp. Aberystwyth: Cambrian Archaeological Association.Google Scholar
Warren, S. H. 1912. The Neolithic stone axes of Graig Lwyd, Penmaenmawr. Archaeologia Cambrensis 77, 131.Google Scholar
Wheeler, R. E. M. 1943. Maiden Castle, Dorset (= Reports of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London XII). Oxford: Society of Antiquaries.Google Scholar
Whittle, A. 1977. The Earlier Neolithic of Southern England and its Continental Background. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, International Series 35.Google Scholar