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HAMMERSTONE
Unique ID: PUBLIC-162BF3
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation 
A beach pebble with percussion markings in the centre of both faces, perhaps used as a hammerstone. A wide sub-oval in plan, lenticular in profile and an elongated oval in section. The ventral surface shows signs of dense pecking in an approximately circular area around 35mm in diameter. The surface pecking in the centre of the dorsal face is similar in extent but far less dense.
The surface of the stone is uniformly pale creamy-grey in colour with multiple striations of red-brown iron carbonate. Made from a greywacke sandstone beach pebble from the Crackington Formation dating from of the Upper Carboniferous age (332 to 290 million years BP).
A very similar hammerstone, from a Bronze Age context at Trethellan Farm, Newquay is illustrated in Cornish Archaeology Vol. 30 (1991) on page 149, fig.62 no.102.
Notes:
The Crackington Formation is composed of interbeddded sandstone, shale and siltstone.
However, more specifically they can be referred to as Greywacke. These sandstones are characterised by a content (10%) of sand grains composed of earlier rocks and a high content (20%) of clayey matrix cementing the dominant quartz sand content (66%). There is also about 4% of iron carbonate which might account for the rusty spots as it breaks down quite easily on weathering. Greywackes are characteristically tough rocks and quite suited for mace heads and hammerstones (Roger Taylor pers comm).
Subsequent actions
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Chronology
Broad period: BRONZE AGE
Period from: BRONZE AGE
Period to: BRONZE AGE
Date from: Circa 2350 BC
Date to: Circa 800 BC
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Length: 143 mm
Width: 111 mm
Thickness: 39 mm
Weight: 992 g
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Wednesday 1st January 2003 - Wednesday 31st December 2003
Personal details
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Other reference numbers
Other reference: SM.HS1
Materials and construction
Primary material: Stone
Manufacture method: Ground/polished
Completeness: Complete
Spatial metadata
Region: South West (European Region)County or Unitary authority: Cornwall (Unitary Authority)
District: Cornwall (Unitary Authority)
Parish or ward: Kilkhampton (Civil Parish)
Spatial coordinates
4 Figure: SS2010
Four figure Latitude: 50.86141959
Four figure longitude: -4.55906907
1:25K map: SS2010
1:10K map: SS21SW
Grid reference source: Generated from computer mapping software
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 1 metre square.
References cited
| Author | Publication Year | Title | Publication Place | Publisher | Pages | Reference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nowakowski, J. | 1991 | Trethellan Farm, Newquay: The excavation of a lowland Bronze Age settlement and Iron Age cemetery | Redruth | Cornwall Lithographic Printers Ltd. | 149, fig.62 | no.102 |
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Timeline of associated dates
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