AXEHEAD ROUGHOUT

Broken blade end of an axehead roughout of igneous rock but not gabbroic greenstone, U-shaped in plan, and lozenge-shaped in profile and in section. There is a defined yet damaged cutting edge at the blade end, and the ventral face is more ground down, through use rather than weathering, while the dorsal face is more pitted. This is one of a group of 14 stone tools described as 'potential axes' that have been found on Clodgy Moor or Trungle Moor in Paul parish. A few of these have distinct areas where grinding has been carried out to start a blade. The remainder have a broadly axe-shaped outline and apparent traces of pecking. Examination of most of this group by Roger Taylor, as part of the Clodgy Moor Project, has confirmed that of they are gabbroic greenstone, except for one described as volcanic greenstone. One or two of these he identifies as of similar lithology to that of the greenstone Gwavas quarry nearby. Of the group as a whole Roger Taylor comments that the overall shape of each piece, the apparent 'axe' shape, is due to these pieces having previously been cobbles. However this was way back in geological time before the Quaternary period, as most of the apparent pecking is due to weathering subsequent to the formation of the cobbles. He quotes remnant high level beach material from the Crousa Gravels overlying the gabbro in the Lizard and other material overlying the Carnmennellis Granite as parallels. He considers that the greenstone in all these pieces is comparatively soft, and indeed this can be clearly seen when the group is compared to the hammerstone/pestles. However some of the pieces clearly have areas of grinding over the weathering. The most likely interpretation for this group as a whole is that they were collected as potential axe-making material: their close concentration in one part of the study area makes natural occurrence extremely unlikely. This roughout has not yet been examined by Roger Taylor, and provisional identifications are being provided by Henrietta Quinnell (Henrietta Quinnell, Clodgy Moor stonework, forthcoming).

Similar axe roughouts have been excavated from the Neolithic settlement at Carn Brea and are illustrated in Mercer (1981) on page 155, Fig.64, for example, No.S6.