REPORT ON WORKED STONE FROM BECKFORD, WORCESTERSHIRE.
Author(s): F E S Roe
A total of 219 pieces of worked stone were examined, andthese divided into 18 different categories of artefact.The imported stone at Beckford includes two non-British fragments, a piece of lava from the Eifel region of Germany and a fragment of marble from the Mediterranean. British imported stone, which was used especially forquerns and rubbers, comprises the following: Carboniferous Millstone Grit; Devonian sandstones, including both Lower Old Red Sandstone and Quartz Conglomerate from theUpper Old Red Sandstone; the Kentish Rag, a Cretaceous calcareous sandstone used for whetstones; and Pennants and stone from the Upper Coal Measures. Local stone was fully utilised. Jurassic rocks were available in the immediate vicinity, including oolitic limestone, Lias and Marlstone Rock Bed, while peloidallime stone and Forest Marble probably came from the Cotswolds. Material from local boulder clay and river gravels, mostly in the form of pebbles, was also widely used. A complete stone assemblage was recorded, and in addit-ion to conventional items such as querns, rubbers, whet-stones, discs, beads, spindle whorls and pendants thereare less usual categories of tool such as smoothers grinding and pounding stones and hollowed pieces of stone, and these are made from local materials. An attempt has been made to integrate information from Beckford with that obtained elsewhere.
- Report Number:
- 154/1987
- Series:
- AML Reports (New Series)
- Pages:
- 48
- Keywords:
- Stone Stone, Worked
