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WHETSTONE
Unique ID: DUR-424732
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation 
A fine-grained, dark grey stone, oval-ended and broken at one end, of uncertain date. It has been used as a whetstone for sharpening blades.
The stone is natural, not deliberately shaped, oval in section, thickening and widening to the broken end. The complete end is rounded. The top of the whetstone shows signs of brown 'polish' and has numerous shallow, linear grooves in the surface. The back is concave and rougher; it shows a couple of diagonal grooves but these may be natural wear.
Whetstones are known to have been used from the Bronze Age onwards. The improvised use of various stones for sharpening or rubbing stones is most characteristic of the Roman and early Medieval periods.
Jones and Taylor (2010) illustrate a similar whetstone from Scarcewater, Cornwall, on page 129, fig 66. Similar objects can be found on this database at CORN-687982, SOM-9B8C85 and LANCUM-9379A7.
Subsequent actions
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Chronology
Broad period: UNKNOWN
Period from: BRONZE AGE
Period to: POST MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa 1500 BC
Date to: Circa AD 1800
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Length: 155.06 mm
Width: 101.24 mm
Thickness: 47.56 mm
Weight: 1146 g
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Tuesday 2nd May 2017
Personal details
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Materials and construction
Spatial metadata
Region: North East (European Region)County or Unitary authority: County Durham (Unitary Authority)
District: County Durham (Unitary Authority)
Spatial coordinates
4 Figure: NZ1251
Four figure Latitude: 54.85365631
Four figure longitude: -1.81461933
1:25K map: NZ1251
1:10K map: NZ15SW
Grid reference source: From finder
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 1 metre square.
References cited
| Author | Publication Year | Title | Publication Place | Publisher | Pages | Reference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jones, A.M. and Taylor, S.R. | 2010 | Scarcewater, Pennance, Cornwall: Archaeological excavation of a Bronze Age and Roman Landscape | Oxford | Archaeopress | 129 | 66 |
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Timeline of associated dates
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