Rights Holder: Somerset County Council
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UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Unique ID: SOM-23470E
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation 
Fragment of a worked stone of uncertain date and function, possibly a whetstone as it appears too thin for a quern. The stone is a well cemented and sorted medium to fine grain sandstone. The fragment is roughly triangular with breaks on all sides and flat top and bottom faces. Across one face is a deep, straight, semi-circular sectioned groove running from one side to the other. On the other face is a shallow, curved, similarly sectioned groove which deepens from one edge to the other and may indicate the piece was used with a rotation action. The fragment is 78.7mm long, and a maximum of 81.6mm wide and varies from 21.9 to 24.8mm thick; it weighs 195 grams.
It is not a local rock but maybe Devonian (D. Parsons pers comm) and traded fairly locally. Hand turned rotary querns were used from the Middle Iron Age into the early Post Medieval period. A Roman, Medieval or Post Medieval date would be in keeping with surrounded material. If the curved groove is an indication of rotary use then it was thinner towards the outer edge, consistant with a rotary quern.
Subsequent actions
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Chronology
Broad period: UNKNOWN
Period from: ROMAN
Period to: POST MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 43
Date to: Circa AD 1800
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Length: 78.7 mm
Width: 81.6 mm
Thickness: 24.8 mm
Weight: 195 g
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Friday 1st July 2016 - Wednesday 31st August 2016
Personal details
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Other reference numbers
Other reference: SCC receipt 16913
Materials and construction
Primary material: Stone
Manufacture method: Ground/polished
Completeness: Fragment
Spatial metadata
Region: South West (European Region)County or Unitary authority: Somerset (County)
District: South Somerset (District)
To be known as: Near Wincanton
Spatial coordinates
Grid reference source: From a paper map
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 100 metre square.
References cited
No references cited so far.
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Timeline of associated dates
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