SPINDLE-WHORLS, DISCS, SLICKSTONES, WEIGHTS, AND CUPS.
Besides the weapons and implements used in warfare and the chase,
as well as for various constructive purposes, there were in ancient
times, as at present, numerous implements and utensils of stone devoted
to more purely domestic uses. Some of these, such as corn-crushers,
mealing-stones, querns, pestles, and mortars, have been treated of
elsewhere in this work, when, from the connection of these instruments
with other forms adapted for somewhat different purposes, it appeared
appropriate to describe them. There are, however, other classes,
connected principally with domestic occupations, such, for instance,
as spinning and weaving, about which it will be necessary to say a few
words.
At how early a period the introduction of the spinning-wheel superseded
to some extent the use of the distaff and spindle, it is difficult to
say. It is by no means improbable that it was known in classical times,
as Stosch thinks that he has recognized it on antique gems. The distaff
and spindle remained, however, in use in many parts of this country
until quite recently, and are still commonly employed in some remote
parts of Britain, as well as over a great part of Europe. To how early
a date this simple method of spinning goes back, we have also no means
of judging. We know that it was in use in the earliest times among the
Egyptians and Greeks; and we find, moreover, in the lake-habitations
of Switzerland[2117]—even in those which apparently belong to a purely
stone age—evidence of an acquaintance with the arts both of spinning
and weaving, not only in the presence of some of the mechanical
appliances for those purposes, but also in the thread and manufactured
cloth. The principal fibrous materials in use in the lake-dwellings
were bast from the bark of trees (chiefly the lime) and flax. No hemp
has as yet been found in |437| any lake-dwelling. It seems probable
that the raw materials employed in neolithic times in Britain must
have been of the same character; but we have here no such means of
judging of the relative antiquity of the textile art, as those at the
command of the Swiss antiquaries. Woven tissues have, however, been
found with ancient interments, apparently of the Bronze Age, by Canon
Greenwell,[2118] and Messrs. Mortimer, but made of wool, and not of
vegetable fibre. An article on prehistoric spinning and weaving written
by Dr. G. Buschan[2119] is worth consulting, as well as one by Dr.
Joseph Anderson,[2120] on these processes in connexion with brochs. Sir
Arthur Mitchell[2121] has also written on the subject of the spindle
and whorl.
* * * * *
In spinning with the distaff and spindle, the rotatory motion of the
latter is maintained by a small fly-wheel or “spindle-whorl,” very
generally formed of stone, but sometimes of other materials, with a
perforation in the centre, in which the wooden or bone spindle was
fastened, the part below the whorl tapering to a point so as to be
readily twirled between the finger and thumb, and the part above, being
also pointed, but longer, so as to admit of the thread when spun being
wound round it, the yarn in the act of being spun being attached to
the upper point. These spindle-whorls are, as might be anticipated,
frequently found in various parts of the country; and though, from the
lengthened period during which this mode of spinning was practised, it
is impossible under ordinary circumstances to determine the antiquity
of any specimen, yet they appear to have been sufficiently long out of
use for local superstitions to have attached to them, as in Cornwall
they are commonly known by the name of “Pisky grinding-stones,”[2122]
or “Pixy’s grindstones.” In North Britain,[2123] they are also
familiarly called Pixy-wheels, and in Ireland[2124] “Fairy
mill-stones.” In Harris, and Lewis,[2125] the distaff and spindle are
still in common use, and were so until quite recently on the mainland
of Scotland.[2126] For twisting hair-lines or “imps” for fishing,
stone, lead, or earthenware whorls with a hook in them are used. They
are known by the name of “imp-stones.”[2127] Notwithstanding this
recent use, the original intention of the stone spindle-whorls, which
occur in Scotland, as elsewhere, appears often to be unknown. They are
called _clach-nathrach_, adder-stones or snake-stones, and have an
origin assigned them much like that of the _ovum anguinum_ of Pliny.
“When cattle are bitten by snakes, the snake-stone is put into water,
with which the affected part is washed, and it is cured forthwith.”
Glass beads[2128] with spirals on them seem to have been regarded as
even more efficacious. |438|
Spindle-whorls vary considerably in size and weight, being usually
from an inch to an inch and a half in diameter, but occasionally as
much as from two to three inches. They are sometimes flat at the edge
or cylindrical, but more frequently rounded. They differ much in the
degree of finish, some appearing to have been turned in a lathe, while
others are very rough and not truly circular.
[Illustration: Fig. 357.—Scampston. 1∕2]
[Illustration: Fig. 358.—Holyhead. 1∕1]
[Illustration: Fig. 359.—Holyhead. 1∕1]
[Illustration: Fig. 360.—Holyhead. 1∕1]
The specimen I have selected for engraving as Fig. 357 is one of the
more highly finished class, and rather flatter than usual. It was
found in draining, at Scampston, Yorkshire, and is formed of a hard
slaty stone. It has been turned in a lathe on one face, and at the
edge; the other face is irregular, and seems to have been polished
by hand. What was evidently the upper face, is ornamented with two
parallel incised circles, and there are two more round the edge. The
hole seems to have been drilled, and is quite parallel. One of the
cheese-like spindle-whorls, of red sandstone, and another, rounded
at the rim, found in hut-circles in Holyhead and Anglesea,[2129]
are shown in Figs. 358 and 359. Another, of sandstone, was found in
Thor’s Cave,[2130] Derbyshire, with various objects, some of them
of iron. One of lead, 1 1∕8 inches in diameter, convex on one face,
was found in the same place. One found at Ty Mawr, Holyhead,[2131]
by the late Hon. W. O. Stanley, F.S.A., who kindly lent me this and
the preceding blocks, is shown in Fig. 360. Numerous other specimens
were discovered in the same place. They are sometimes decorated
with incised radial lines and shallow cavities more or less rudely
executed. One such, found near Carno, Montgomeryshire,[2132] has been
figured. Several others are |439| recorded as having been found in
the Principality.[2133] In Cornwall,[2134] they seem to be especially
numerous, occasionally occurring in subterranean chambers. They have
also been found in considerable numbers in Scotland.[2135] The half of
a clay spindle-whorl was found by Canon Greenwell in the material of a
barrow at Weaverthorpe.[2136]
Sir Wollaston Franks[2137] has suggested that some of these perforated
discs may have been used as dress-fasteners or buttons, and mentions
that very similar objects have been found in Mexico, which there is
every reason to believe have been used as buttons. He also instances
a specimen from South Wales, which has evidently had a cord passed
through it, as the edges of the hole in the centre are much worn by
friction. Such a view carries much probability with it, so far as
it relates to the thin discs of stone with small central holes not
parallel, but tapering from both faces; especially if they are in any
way ornamented. Some of the rougher kind, however, may have served some
such purpose as that of plummets or net-sinkers, as has been suggested
by Professor Nilsson.[2138] Perforated[2139] pebbles of much the same
form have served as net weights in Scotland, and are still occasionally
in use. In Samoa, flat circular discs of stones, about two inches in
diameter, with central holes, are used to prevent rats from reaching
provisions, which are suspended in baskets by a cord. One of these
discs strung on the cord suffices for the purpose. A specimen is in the
Christy Collection. Their use is analogous to that of the flat stones
on the staddles on which corn-stacks are built in this country, though
in that case, the stones are to prevent the ascent and not the descent
of the rats.
Judging, however, from all analogy, there can be little doubt that in
most cases where the holes are parallel, the perforated discs found
in Britain were spindle-whorls. As has been already observed, they
are frequently formed of other materials than stone; and both the
spindles of wood and the whorls of bone have been found with Roman
remains.[2140] They are also frequently formed of lead and earthenware.
Spindles of ivory sometimes occur both with Roman and Saxon relics. I
have several such, found with whorls of slaty stone in Cambridgeshire.
The Saxon whorls are of the same materials and character as those of
Roman age. Spindles of wood have been found in the lake-settlements
of Savoy.[2141] An interesting and profusely illustrated chapter
on spindle-whorls will be found in Hume’s “Ancient Meols.”[2142]
Earthenware whorls, variously decorated, have been found in large
numbers on the site of Troy, and with Mycenæan remains.
Allied to the whorls, but evidently destined for some other purpose,
is a flat disc of shelly limestone, now in my collection, found at
Barrow, near Bury St. Edmund’s. It is 5 1∕2 inches in diameter, 3∕4
inch thick, ground from both faces to an edge all round, and perforated
in the centre with a hole 5∕8 inch in diameter, counter-sunk on each
face, so as to leave only a narrow edge in the middle of the hole,
which is much polished by friction. The edge of the periphery is also
worn |440| smooth. I am at a loss to assign a use to this object.
In the Greenwell Collection a similar disc from the North Riding of
Yorkshire shows polish on one face. A somewhat similar disc with the
hole a little larger, so that it rather resembles a quoit, is in
the Norwich Museum. It may be a plaything of no great antiquity. An
instrument of similar form, engraved by Lindenschmit,[2143] has a
parallel shaft-hole. Among the North American Indians,[2144] perforated
discs, but with broad and not sharp peripheries, appear to have been
used as a kind of quoits.
Some flat imperforate discs of stone, from two to nine inches in
diameter, roughly chipped round the edges, and in one instance oval,
were associated with bronze tweezers and articles of iron, in a Pict’s
house at Kettleburn, Caithness.[2145] Two polished stone discs were
found in a crannog near Maybole,[2146] Ayrshire, and a nearly square
piece of stone that had been polished on both sides in a crannog at
Dowalton,[2147] Sorbie, Wigtownshire. Others of large size occurred
in another Pict’s house in Orkney,[2148] and were regarded as plates.
Six black stone dishes, all about 2 1∕2 inches thick, and varying from
1 foot 8 inches to 10 inches long, were found with numerous other
objects, among them a copper needle, in a circular building in South
Uist.[2149] Other similar dishes have been found near Sand Lodge, in
Shetland,[2150] and elsewhere. Possibly such stones may have been
used in cooking oatmeal cakes or bannocks—like the stones on which
formerly “pikelets” or crumpets were cooked in Leicestershire and other
Midland counties, where their modern iron substitutes are still called
“pikelet-stones.” Ornamented stones for toasting oatmeal cakes in front
of a peat fire are or were until lately in use in Scotland.[2151]
Cooking slabs of thin stone are used by the natives of Guiana,[2152]
for baking cassava bread.
Dr. Joseph Anderson[2153] has suggested that some of the small discs,
with the surface highly polished, such as have been found in Scottish
brochs of the Iron Age, may have served as mirrors.
* * * * *
Another purpose to which stone implements seem to have been applied,
in connection with weaving and the preparation of leather, is that
of burnishing or smoothing, somewhat in the same manner as is now
effected by the flat-iron. An oval pebble (4 inches) rubbed all along
one side was found by General Pitt Rivers in one of the pits at Mount
Caburn,[2154] Lewes. Sir W. Wilde, speaking of a quite recent period,
observes that “it is well known that weavers in the north of Ireland
used a smooth celt, whenever they could find one, for rubbing on the
cloth, bit by bit, as they worked it, to close the threads and give a
gloss to the surface.”[2155] Canon |441| Greenwell had a celt from
Yorkshire, which was used by a shoemaker for smoothing down the seams
he made in leather. The old English name for the smooth stones used for
such purposes is “slickstone.” In the “Promptorium Parvulorum,”[2156]
written in the fifteenth century, a SLEKYSTŌN or SLEKENSTONE is
translated, _linitorium_, _lucibriunculum_, _licinitorium_—terms
unknown to classical Latinity. Mr. Albert Way, in a note on the
word, after giving its various forms as slyke-stone, sleght-stone,
sleeke-stone, &c., remarks, “In former times, polished stones,
implements in form of a muller, were used to smooth linen,[2157] paper,
and the like, and likewise for the operation termed calendering.
Gautier de Bibelesworth says,—
“Et priez la dame qe ta koyfe luche (slike)
De sa luchiere (slikingston) sur la huche.”
In directions for making buckram, &c., and for starching cloth, (Sloane
MS., 3548, f. 102), the finishing process is as follows: ‘_Cum lapide
slycstone levifica_.’” “She that hath no glasse to dresse her head will
use a bowle of water, she that wanteth a sleeke stone to smooth her
linnen will take a pebble.”[2158]
“Slickstones occur in the Tables of Custom-House Rates on Imports,
2 James I., and about that period large stones inscribed with texts
of Scripture were occasionally thus used. (See Whitaker, ‘Hist. of
Craven,’[2159] p. 401, _n._) There was a specimen in the Leverian
Museum. Bishop Kennett, in his ‘Glossarial Collections,’ _s.v._
‘Slade,’ alludes to the use of such an appliance ‘to sleek clothes
with a sleekstone.’” Cotgrave, in his French Dictionary, translates
_calendrine_ or _pierre calendrine_, as a sleekstone; and under the
word “lisse” makes mention of “a rowler of massive glasse wherewith
curriers do sleeke and gloss their leather.” This, probably, was a
substitute for a more ancient instrument of stone. Sir Thomas Browne
mentions slickstones among electric bodies, and implies that in his
time they were of glass. “Glass attracts but weakly though clear; some
slickstones and thick glasses indifferently.”[2160]
I have two or three specimens of glass slickstones, which in form
resemble mushrooms. The lenticular part is usually about 5 inches in
diameter, and its rounded surface was used for |442| polishing the
linen. The handle or stalk is ribbed and about 4 1∕2 inches long. They
are of both clear and of bottle-green glass. A small slickstone of
black glass without a handle was found in a Viking grave of a woman in
Islay.[2161] The same form was recently in use in Scotland. A large one
is in the Kirkcudbright[2162] Museum. Another[2163] provided with a
long smooth handle has likewise been figured.
[Illustration: Fig. 361.—Holyhead.]
* * * * *
A four-sided implement of stone, fashioned with considerable care, the
sides flat and smooth, and with an edge at one end, was found by the
late Hon. W. O. Stanley, F.S.A., at Pen-y-Bonc,[2164] and is shown in
Fig. 361, kindly lent to me by him. It has been regarded as a burnisher
or polishing stone. A similar specimen is in the Blackmore Museum.
Mr. Syer Cuming[2165] mentions the discovery, at Alchester,
Oxfordshire, of a flat pyriform piece of red sandstone, 3 1∕2 inches
long, 3 1∕4 inches wide, and 1 inch thick in the middle, with the
edges rounded, and the whole surface, with the exception of the obtuse
end, polished; and he inclines to the belief that it was employed
in smoothing hides and rendering them pliant for clothing. Another
“slickstone for tawing or softening hides by friction,” formed of
quartz, 6 1∕8 inches broad by 2 1∕2 inches in height, with a depression
on either side to admit the finger and thumb, and having the surface
rounded and polished by use, was found at a depth of three feet in the
ground at Culter, Lanarkshire.[2166] In the Shrewsbury Museum[2167]
is a perforated stone in shape like a broad hoe, but with rounded
edges; it is thought to be a currier’s tool. Three flint pebbles
found with late Celtic enamelled bronze horse-trappings at Westhall,
Suffolk,[2168] and having one or both |443| of their sides much
rubbed down, may possibly belong to this class of objects. Sir R.
Colt Hoare[2169] speaks of “the hard flat stones of the pebble kind,
such as we frequently find both in the towns as well as in the tumuli
of the Britons,” but does not suggest a purpose for them. Polished
pebbles have not unfrequently been found in tumuli with stone weapons
and implements. One tapering toward the ends, which are rubbed flat,
was found by Mr. Bateman.[2170] Another was found in a barrow near
Ashford-in-the-Water.[2171] It is possible they may, as subsequently
suggested, have been ornaments or amulets; but some pebbles, polished
on part of their surface, as if by use, have been found in tumuli by
Canon Greenwell.
A “smoothing-stone” of hard grey stone, with a short tang apparently
for fixing it in a handle, has been engraved by the Rev. Dr.
Hume.[2172] He does not, however, state where it was found. A somewhat
similar implement is engraved by Schoolcraft,[2173] which he thinks may
have been designed for smoothing down seams of buckskin. As stated at
page 416, I have seen a stone which had been used for this purpose in
England.
Granite and other pebbles are used as ironing-stones in Orkney[2174]
and in Scotland. Several have been described by Professor Duns.[2175]
Dr. Keller[2176] has shown that, in connection with what was probably
the earliest form of loom, weights were employed to stretch the warp.
These, however, in Switzerland, seem to have been for the most part
formed of burnt clay, though possibly some of the stones which have
been regarded as sink-stones or plummets, were used for this purpose.
Some of these have already been described.
Loom weights of burnt clay have been found in Scotland[2177] and of
chalk[2178] in Sussex. I have one of burnt clay from Cambridge.
* * * * *
Another domestic use to which stones were applied was as weights for
the balance or scales; though we have no evidence at present that
in this country, at all events, any weighing apparatus was known so
early as the Stone or even the Bronze Period. Among the Jews the same
word אֶבֶן (_Eben_) denoted both a stone and a weight; and we have a
somewhat similar instance of customs being recorded in language in the
case of our own “stone” of eight or fourteen pounds. Discoidal weights
formed of stone are not unfrequently found on the sites of Roman
occupation.
The moulds in which bronze weapons and tools were cast, were often made
of stone, but for any account of them I refer the reader to my book on
“Bronze Implements.”
Another class of domestic utensils, frequently found in Scotland |444|
and the adjacent islands, consists of cup-like vessels formed of stone,
of various degrees of hardness, and usually provided with a small
projecting handle.
[Illustration: Fig. 362.—Scotland.]
[Illustration: Fig. 363.—Sutherlandshire.]
* * * * *
Fig. 362, borrowed from the _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries
of Scotland_,[2179] will serve to show their general character. Of
the two cups here engraved, one was found near a megalithic circle at
Crookmore, Tullynessle, Aberdeenshire, and the other in another part
of Scotland. The material is described as a soft calcareous stone. One
of steatite or “pot-stone,” with a large unpierced handle, was found
in a cairn at Drumkesk,[2180] near Aboyne, Aberdeenshire; and two
others, one with the handle projecting from the side, and the other
with a long straight handle, at Strathdon[2181] in the same county.
Two others, one of them of micaceous sandstone, ornamented with a
band of rudely-cut projecting knobs, and the other with incised lines
in zigzag herring-bone patterns, were dug out of a large cairn on
Knockargity,[2182] and others at Cromar,[2183] also in Aberdeenshire.
One ornamented in a similar manner was found at Needless,[2184] Perth.
Others have been found in cairns in Banffshire,[2185] Morayshire,[2186]
and Sutherlandshire,[2187] the engraving of the last of which is here
reproduced as Fig. 363. It is 6 1∕2 inches in diameter. They have also
been found in brochs, in Caithness,[2188] Shetland,[2189] and in a
“fort” in Forfarshire.[2190] They have likewise been discovered under
various circumstances in Aberdeenshire,[2191] at Balmoral,[2192] and
in Forfarshire,[2193] Perthshire,[2194] and the Isle of Skye,[2195] as
well as in the Isle of Man.[2196] |445| They occur, though rarely, in
Ireland.[2197] I have one from Trillick, Tyrone.
In former times these cups were regarded as “Druidical _pateræ_;” but
Sir Daniel Wilson[2198] has pointed out that in the Faroe Islands, a
similar kind of vessel is still in use as a lamp or as a chafing-dish
for carrying live embers. He has engraved one of them in the cut
here reproduced. The same kind of rude lamp or cresset is in use in
Ceylon.[2199] These Scottish vessels probably belong to no very remote
antiquity.
[Illustration: Fig. 364.—Faroe Islands.]
A shallow one-handled saucer or stand of Kimmeridge shale was found
at Povington, Dorset,[2200] but was probably intended for some other
purpose than the Scottish cup. It has been suggested that it was for
holding the flakes of flint supposed to have been used for turning
the armlets and other objects of Kimmeridge coal, many fragments of
which, as well as numerous pieces of flint, were found with it; but it
seems more probable that the turning tools were of metal. It may be an
unfinished lamp-stand, or possibly a lamp.
* * * * *
[Illustration: Fig. 365.—Broad Down or Honiton.]
Cups, however, formed of shale, and most skilfully made, have
occasionally been found in barrows. The most remarkable is that which
was discovered in a tumulus at Broad Down,[2201] near Honiton, by
the Rev. Richard Kirwan, to whom I am indebted for the loan of the
full-sized figure (Fig. 365) on the next page. The woodcut gives so
perfect a representation of its form that any detailed description is
needless. Its height is 3 5∕8 inches, and its greatest diameter, which
is at the mouth, 3 inches. Its capacity is about a gill. The material
of which it is formed appears in all probability to be Kimmeridge[2202]
shale, though it is difficult to pronounce on this point with
certainty. In another barrow, also on Broad Down,[2203] Mr. Kirwan came
upon a bronze spear-head, or rather dagger, which had been attached
to its haft by rivets, lying on a deposit of burnt bones; and at a
distance from it of about 3 feet he discovered a drinking-cup of shale,
of almost similar form and size to that previously found. It is about
3 1∕4 inches high, and 3 inches in diameter at the mouth, and is now
preserved in the Albert Museum at Exeter. One very remarkable feature
about these |446| cups is that they have been turned in the lathe,
and not made by hand; and it has been suggested that by the use of the
pole-lathe, the great apparent difficulty of leaving the projection
for |447| the handle would be entirely removed. I had already arrived
at this conclusion before seeing, in Mr. Kirwan’s paper, the views
of a “skilful practical turner” on this point; but it may be well to
describe the simple instrument known as a pole-lathe, with which most
of the constituent parts of a Windsor chair are turned at the present
day.[2204]
* * * * *
On the bed of the lathe, which usually consists of two pieces of
squared wood nailed to two standards fixed in the ground, are two
wooden “heads,” both furnished with pointed screws passing through
them, to form the centres on which the piece of wood to be turned
revolves. This, after having been chopped into an approximately
cylindrical form, is placed between the two centres, and above the
lathe is fixed a long elastic pole of wood, to the end of which a cord
is attached, connecting it to the end of a treadle below the lathe.
The cord is hitched round the wood, and adjusted to such a length as
to keep the treadle well off the ground when the pole is at rest. When
the treadle is pressed down with the foot, it draws down the pole, and
the cord in its passage causes the piece of wood to revolve. When the
pressure is relieved, the elasticity of the pole draws it back in the
opposite direction, so that the workman by treading causes an alternate
rotary motion of the wood. He turns this in the ordinary manner, except
that his tool can cut only intermittently, that is, at the time when
the revolution is towards, and not from him. If now, a projecting
stop were attached to the object in the lathe, so as to prevent its
making a complete revolution, it is evident that a portion like that
forming the handle of the cup might be left unturned. Still, in the
case of these cups, something more than the ordinary pole-lathe with
two “dead” centres must have been used, as with such a lathe, it would
be almost impossible to bore out the hollow of the cup. It appears
probable, therefore, that a mandrel-head with a “live” centre, like
that of our ordinary lathes, must have been used; though probably the
motion was communicated by a pole and treadle, and not, as with modern
foot-lathes, by a large pulley on a cranked axle.
We shall subsequently see that the waste pieces of Kimmeridge shale, to
which the unwarrantable name of “coal-money” has been applied, testify
to the use of such a lathe. Whatever may be the date to which the
manufacture of this shale into bracelets and other objects was carried
down, it seems probable that, assuming this cup to have been of home
manufacture and not imported, the use of the lathe was known in this
country in pre-Roman times. In the Broad Down barrow no other object
accompanied the burnt bones, and in the trunk-interment in the King
Barrow, Stowborough,[2205] near Wareham, cited by Mr. Kirwan, where
a somewhat similar cup appears to have |448| been found, there was
no weapon nor trace of metal, unless it were what was imagined to be
some gold lace. The ornamentation of this cup is different from that
of the Devonshire specimen, and the workmanship appears to be ruder.
It was described at the time as of wood, but was probably of shale, as
has been suggested by Dr. Wake Smart.[2206] Some fragments of cups of
shale with flat handles were found in the Romano-British village at
Woodcuts.[2207]
[Illustration: Fig. 366.—Rillaton, height 3 1∕4 inches.]
It is, however, but right to mention that a _wooden_ cup with a handle
at the side, and which had been turned in a lathe, was found in a
barrow in Schleswig,[2208] in a coffin made from the trunk of an oak,
together with a skeleton wrapped in woollen cloth, a bronze dagger, and
other objects. Professor Worsaae attributes these objects to the Early
Bronze Age. Mr. Kirwan has cited another instance of a somewhat similar
cup, found with “coal-money.”
It is true that these instances afford no actual guide as to date, but
|449| the interments were clearly not Roman. Some clue, however, is
afforded by the discovery of the gold cup shown in Fig. 366, not unlike
this in form, in a barrow at Rillaton,[2209] Cornwall, accompanied by
what appears to have been a bronze dagger;[2210] but the best evidence
as to the date to be assigned to this class of cups is probably that of
the very remarkable and beautiful specimen formed of amber, and found
in a barrow at Hove,[2211] near Brighton.
[Illustration: Fig. 367.—Hove.]
In this instance an interment in a rude oaken coffin was accompanied
by the amber cup, here, by the kindness of the Sussex Archæological
Society, reproduced, a double-edged battle-axe of stone (see Fig. 119,
p. 186), a bronze dagger, and a whetstone. This cup is 3 1∕2 inches
in diameter and 2 1∕2 high, about 1∕10 inch in thickness, and its
capacity rather more than half a pint. It is perfectly smooth inside
and out, and, so far as I could judge from seeing it through glass in
the Brighton Museum, it was turned in a lathe. It has been suggested by
Mr. Barclay Phillips that some process like that of boiling amber in
spirits of turpentine may have been known by which it would be rendered
plastic; but this seems hardly probable.
It is, of course, possible that such an object as this may have come
by commerce into Britain; and, indeed, amber is one of the articles
mentioned by Strabo as exported from Celtic Gaul to this country. In
|450| the case of the shale cups, however, the evidence seems in favour
of their having been articles of home manufacture, and we shall shortly
see to what an extent jet was used here in early times for ornamental
purposes.
So far as amber is concerned, it is to be remembered that after storms
it occurs in considerable quantities along the eastern coast of
England, and on the southern coast at all events to Deal. An important
work on the amber ornaments of the Stone Period has been published by
Dr. Richard Klebs.[2212]
[Illustration: Fig. 368.—Ty Mawr. 2∕3]
Vessels without handles were also occasionally formed of stone. Six
or seven of these, of various sizes and forms, were discovered in a
“kist-vaen” in the Island of Unst,[2213] and are now for the most part
in the British Museum. Four of them are of a rude quadrangular form,
with flat bottoms, and from 3 1∕2 to 7 inches in height. The other
three are oval. They are formed of schistose rock, and some of them
still bear traces of the action of fire. Sir Wollaston Franks, with
reference to these vessels, has stated that stone-vessels of a rude
type are still in use in some remote parts of Norway. One is engraved,
as ancient, by Nilsson.[2214]
Several were found in the ancient dwelling at Skara, Orkney,[2215] one
of which is hexagonal.
A small stone cup, found by the late Hon. W. O. Stanley in an ancient
circular habitation at Ty Mawr, Holyhead, is, through his kindness,
shown in Fig. 368.[2216] A more oval cup, somewhat broken, was also
found.
An oval stone cup (4 1∕2 inches long), apparently made out of half
of a rounded boulder from the beach, was found in a barrow at
Penmaenmawr.[2217]
A circular cup or mortar, barely 4 inches in diameter, from Anglesea,
is engraved in the _Archæological Journal_.[2218]
Some small cup-shaped vessels of chalk, probably used as lamps,
|451| were found by Canon Greenwell, in the excavations at Grimes’
Graves.[2219]
A cylindrical stone vessel, 5 inches high and 6 1∕2 inches in diameter,
with a cup-shaped cavity above, and a small hole below, as if for
fixing it on a stand, was found at Parton, Kircudbrightshire.[2220]
Another, found with a polished stone hatchet in a cairn in
Caithness,[2221] is of circular form, ribbed externally like a melon.
Cups without handles have been found in Orkney[2222] and Caithness,
some with a place for a wick, so as to serve as lamps.
In a cist in a barrow in Orkney[2223] the cinerary urn was formed of
“mica stone,” about 19 1∕2 inches high and 22 1∕2 inches in diameter,
and covered with a lid of undressed stone. Another of nearly the
same size was found in a barrow at Stennis.[2224] Another stone urn
and two stone dishes, with handles or ears, were found in a grave in
Forfarshire;[2225] and two stone urns, one within the other, were
turned up by the plough at Aucorn,[2226] near Wick, Caithness.[2227]
One of these was 13 inches high and 21 inches in diameter, with two
handles rudely cut in the sides. The other was 8 inches in height and
11 1∕2 inches in diameter, and was provided with a stone lid. Long oval
vessels from Shetland[2228] probably belong to more recent times. The
“mell”[2229] for preparing pot-barley may be still in use.
Stone vessels, one with a movable bottom and partly filled with burnt
bones, have been found in the Shetland Isles.[2230]
Stone vessels have also been discovered, though rarely, in barrows in
England. One such was found by Mr. Bateman, in company with a small
bronze bucket with an iron handle, in a barrow at Wetton.[2231] It is
only 4 inches high, and carved in sandstone, with four grooves running
round it by way of ornament. It is probably of late date.
A few urns formed of stone have also been found in Ireland.
One of the varieties of steatite has long been in use for the formation
of hollow vessels for cooking and other purposes, and is still known by
the name of Pot-stone in English. Many of the cooking vessels of the
Eskimos are made of this material.
* * * * *
I now pass on to the consideration of personal decorations formed of
stone.
|452|