Record ID: CORN-30D0E1
Object type: ADZE
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Incomplete metagabbroic greenstone adze, which has been petrologically analysed by Dr. Roger Taylor as part of the Clodgy Moor Project. More than half of the adze remains, including the blade end, and the recorder cannot be sure from the broken butt end how long the adze originally was, but it is tapering towards the butt end. The adze is tear-shaped in plan and plano-convex in profile and in section. The distinct curvature of one side of the blade, while the other side is flat, suggests that the implement was used as an adze. There are several fresh breaks to the adze which have pr…
Created on: Monday 1st June 2009
Last updated: Tuesday 7th February 2012
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-30EF13
Object type: ADZE
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Incomplete gabbroic greenstone cushion macehead or shafthole adze, sub-oval in plan, tapering slightly towards the surviving end, and lozenge-shaped in profile and section. About half of the adze remains, including the blade end, and half of the shaft hole. Both ends would have been worked to form an edge which could have been used for chopping as well as hammering. The implement has been worked from a beach cobble and would have been collected from the coast. It would have then been pecked and ground into shape and the central hole bored by using sand and a drill. The shaft is 25 m…
Created on: Monday 1st June 2009
Last updated: Wednesday 7th November 2012
No spatial data available.

Record ID: CORN-58D753
Object type: ADZE
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Greenstone or epidiorite adze, tear-shaped in plan and plano-convex in profile and section. The distinct curvature of one side of the blade, while the other side is flat, suggests that the implement was used as an adze, for woodworking, rather than an axe. The greenstone is thermally metamorphosed from an aureole of Lands End granite, and has been used as it was formed rather than pecked and ground into shape, apart from the blade end which has been worked. The butt end has a granite vein running through it which stands proud of the greenstone which has recrystalised on eit…
Created on: Wednesday 25th August 2010
Last updated: Thursday 26th August 2010
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-024454
Object type: ADZE
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Incomplete greenstone (epidiorite) cushion macehead or shafthole adze, sub-oval in plan, tapering slightly towards the surviving end, and lozenge-shaped in profile and section. About half of the adze remains, including the blade end, and half of the shaft hole. Both ends would have been worked to form an edge which could have been used for chopping as well as hammering. The implement has been worked from a beach cobble and would have been collected from the coast. It would have then been pecked and ground into shape and the central hole bored by using sand and a drill.…
Created on: Tuesday 23rd June 2009
Last updated: Saturday 12th March 2011
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-C0EC45
Object type: ADZE
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Incomplete stone adze, tear-drop shaped in plan and section and triangular in profile, with angled sides that taper towards the butt end and widen towards the blade end. About half of the original tool survives, the sightly flanged blade end, while the longer but tapering butt end that would have been hafted is missing. The adze may have originally been about three times as long, judging from similar ethnographic parallels, in order to balance it with the wooden haft or handle. In profile the blade is plano-convex suggesting that the tool was used as an adze for carving and smoothing …
Created on: Monday 15th April 2013
Last updated: Monday 17th June 2013
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-FF4101
Object type: ADZE
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Stone adze, triangular in plan, lozenge-shaped in profile and oval in section. The adze is smaller and narrower than local examples, and the angle of the asymmetrical blade is steeper than on indigenous stone adzes. The adze is composed of a uniform fine-grained dark green rock with some patches of dark red mottling. Examination under a binocular microscope (x20-40) shows the rock to be slightly translucent with little textural detail or internal structure. Such textural detail as can be seen is suggestive a fine-grained volcanic ash. It is likely that the rock is not local to the sou…
Created on: Thursday 17th October 2013
Last updated: Thursday 17th October 2013
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-AB58F1
Object type: ADZE
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Broken blade end of an adze of gabbroic greenstone, sub-square in plan, and lozenge-shaped in profile and in section. About half of the original tool survives, as it is missing its longer but tapering butt end that would have been hafted. The adze may have originally been about three times as long, judging from similar ethnographic parallels, in order to balance it with the wooden haft or handle. In profile the blade is plano-convex, with a defined yet scooped edge, suggesting that the tool was used as an adze for carving and smoothing the wood rather than an axe for chopping. The ven…
Created on: Wednesday 25th June 2014
Last updated: Tuesday 29th July 2014
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-9D3E43
Object type: ADZE
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Blade fragment of a metagabbroic greenstone adze, with similarities to Group I type greenstone, semi-circular in plan and section and triangular in profile, with straight sides that widen slightly towards the blade end. About a third of the original tool survives, the blade end, while the longer but tapering butt end that would have been hafted is missing. The adze may have originally been about three times as long, judging from similar ethnographic parallels, in order to balance it with the wooden haft or handle. In profile the blade is plano-convex suggesting that the tool was used …
Created on: Wednesday 1st November 2017
Last updated: Monday 8th July 2019
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-2E2FB8
Object type: ADZE
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Blade fragment of a metabasic greenstone adze, semi-circular in plan and section and triangular in profile, with straight sides that widen slightly towards the blade end. About a third of the original tool survives, the blade end, while the longer but tapering butt end that would have been hafted is missing. The adze may have originally been about three times as long, judging from similar ethnographic parallels, in order to balance it with the wooden haft or handle. In profile the blade is plano-convex suggesting that the tool was used as an adze for carving and smoothing the wood rat…
Created on: Wednesday 28th June 2017
Last updated: Monday 8th July 2019
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-28A1C2
Object type: ADZE
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
A relatively worn blade end of a greenstone adzehead, of probable late Neolithic - early Bronze Age date, made from weathered greenstone meta-gabbro. Greenstones axe or adze heads were commonplace during the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods in Cornwall.  'Greenstone' is actually a general archaeological term, rather than meaning a specific stone. It is commonly used to refer to any green-hued minerals that were used during the Prehistoric, to make tools, jewellery etc... To make matters even more complicated, various antiquarian literature in Cornwall calls this…
Created on: Thursday 25th January 2024
Last updated: Thursday 7th March 2024
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-BF2348
Object type: ADZE
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
A relatively worn, pitted adze head, of probable late Neolithic - early Bronze Age date, made from amphibolite schist. It is a light blue-green colour, and flares at its cutting edge. Interesting, this object shows signs of having been broken, and the blade subsequently re-worked. It appears to have originally been an adze, but its secondary use was as an axehead. Greenstones axe or adze heads were commonplace during the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods in Cornwall. Due to depositional context of this find, and due to the relative proximity upstream of a Bronze Age-Iron Age…
Created on: Monday 8th January 2024
Last updated: Thursday 7th March 2024
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-71FA0B
Object type: ADZE
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
The blade end of a broken Neolithic stone adze. About a sixth of the original tool survives, the blade end, while the rest of the blade and the longer but tapering butt end that would have been hafted is missing. The adze may have originally been about six times as long, judging from similar ethnographic parallels, in order to balance it with the wooden haft or handle.The face of the implement appears to be oval in shape (TIP classification FS02) where it expands beyond the blade edge but would have then tapered towards the butt end, although its fragmentary nature makes it difficult t…
Created on: Thursday 10th January 2019
Last updated: Monday 18th March 2024
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-71E176
Object type: ADZE
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
The blade end of a broken Neolithic stone adze. The fragment represents less than half of the adze with the original length up to three times longer, judging from similar ethnographic parallels, in order to balance it with the wooden haft or handle attached to the opposite butt end.The adze appears to have straight parallel sides but it would have tapered towards the butt end (TIP classification FS07), an asymmetrical (plano-convex) profile of medium thickness (classification P05) and plano-convex in cross-section (classification CS16) with a curved, asymmetrical edge shape (ES05) and …
Created on: Thursday 10th January 2019
Last updated: Monday 18th March 2024
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-E94802
Object type: ADZE
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
The butt end of a broken Neolithic stone adze. The fragment is 90 mm in length, 62.5 mm in width at its broken edge, tapering to 24 mm close to the butt end, 34.5 mm in thickness and 270.9 g in weight which represents approximately half the length of the original implement. The adze is sub-triangular in plan (TIP classification FS09), asymmetrical (isosceles right triangle) in profile (classification P04) and plano-convex in cross-section (classification CS16). The butt shape is rounded in plan and profile (classification BU11). The asymmetrical profile and plano-convex section suggest…
Created on: Wednesday 28th November 2018
Last updated: Monday 18th March 2024
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-A4BBA4
Object type: ADZE
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Published
Incomplete gabbroic greenstone cushion macehead or shafthole adze, ovate in plan, tapering slightly towards the butt end, and lozenge-shaped in profile and section. Both ends would have been worked to form an edge which could have been used for chopping as well as hammering. The macehead probably originally from a beach cobble with little reshaping with a coarse surface texture mainly from weathering (Roger Taylor pers comm). It would have then been pecked and ground into shape and the central hole bored by using sand and a drill. The shaft hole is circular in plan and an 'hour-glass'…
Created on: Wednesday 7th November 2012
Last updated: Tuesday 12th March 2013
Spatial data recorded.