EMAP_2012_Report_6_1.pdf (7.3 MB) - The Heritage Council

Grindstones are circular stones with a central perforation for rotation on a wooden axle which
have been noted at Ballinderry I (Hencken 1936, 147, Fig. 15A); Lagore (Hencken 1950,
173); Seacash (Lynn 1978b, 67, 69); Gragan West (Cotter 1990); Killickaweeny (Walsh 2008,
47-8); Carraig Aille I and II (Ó Ríordáin 1949a, 86, 100); Ballyegan (Byrne 1991, 28); Knowth
(Eogan 1974, 110); Nendrum (Bourke 2007, 416, 421); ‘Killederdadrum’ (Manning 1984,
258); Raystown (Seaver 2010, 277); Woodstown (O'Brien et al. 2005, 62) and Scandinavian
Waterford (McCutcheon 1997c, 421). A fragment of sandstone which appears to have been
intended as a small grindstone, though broken during the course of its manufacture, was
recorded at Beginish (O’Kelly 1956, 181). Pounding or rubbing stones are also common finds
and 36 of these were recorded at Cahercommaun (Hencken 1938, 58). Rounded stone
pebbles are also found and an example from Garryduff I bore ‘one striated flattened face due
to abrasive rubbing on another stone’ (O'Kelly 1963, 88).
Stone was also used to produce spindle-whorls, loom-weights, and linen or leather smoothers
for leather and textile production as well as other multi-purpose objects such as
hammerstones and axeheads (Comber 2008, 61). The ubiquity of flint and chert flakes,
scrapers, blades, cores, points and strike-a-lights on early medieval settlement enclosures,
crannógs and ecclesiastical sites (See Comber 2008, 66-67) indicates that they were worked
on the sites and should not all be considered residual prehistoric deposits. It is possible that
some of these flint and chert implements may have formed part of larger objects such as
lathe cutting-tools or drills (Comber 2008, 61). A wear on a flint point from Reask (Fanning
1981, 138) suggests it functioned as a boring implement. The upland settlement at
Ballyutoag produced a large quantity of flint nodules and fragments and evidence for
platform cores, indicative of early medieval flint knapping (Williams 1984, 41-6).
Jet, lignite and shale were widely used for the production of early medieval bracelets, rings
and pendants. The several stages in the production of hand-carved jet/lignite bracelets or
rings have been discussed by Ivens (1987). The first step involved identifying a suitable slab
or nodule of raw lignite and trimming it into a disc shape, somewhat larger and thicker than
the desired end-product. The interior or central core was then removed by cutting a ‘V’-
shaped groove with a narrow chisel on either side of the disc before finally the bracelet was
finally finished by smoothing and polishing (Edwards 1990, 96). Un-worked jet lumps have
been found at Fishamble Street, Dublin (Wallace 1987, 215-6). These were sourced near
Whitby, in Yorkshire (ibid.), and it is possible that this may represent the origin of most Irish
jet pieces. Much of the evidence for lignite bracelet production is present in the form of the
disc-shaped central waste cores which have been recorded at Oldcourt (Murphy and
O’Cuileanain 1961, 84-7); Ballybrolly (Lynn 1983a, 50); Cahercommaun (Hencken 1938, 40-
2) and Feltrim Hill (Hartnett and Eogan 1964, 28-9). Other partially worked lignite bracelets
have been noted at Lagore (Hencken 1950, 150); ‘Lislear’ rath (Simpson 1987) and Tullylish
(Ivens 1987, 108-9) and may indicate manufacture of the objects at these sites. Parts of
thirteen lignite objects were found at Blackchurch, Co. Kildare and were thought by the
excavator to represent a manufacturing site (Anon, 2006).
Excavations at Armoy church produced evidence for a specialised lignite working or dump
area (outside) a largely infilled ecclesiastical enclosure ditch (Nelis 2005). The truncated
remains of a number of structures were recovered in association with several hundred
fragments of lignite, entirely comprised of cores or bracelet centres and broken bracelets
which related to the final stages of bracelet production. There were no finished pieces and no
lignite was recovered that was unrelated to the final stage of completion of curated roughouts.
Evidence for partly finished lignite bracelets, waste cores from the production of the
bracelets, fragments of finished bracelets, beads and one gaming piece was recorded at
Clonmacnoise (King 2009, 341). Some bracelets could also be manufactured and finished on
a lathe and unfinished lignite bracelets and waste discs with perforations - where they were
held on the lathe - have been recorded at Cathedral Hill, Armagh (Gaskell-Brown and Harper
1984, 136-7) with the same site also producing evidence for a jet bracelet decorated with
rectilinear ornament and two small fragments of a lathe-turned bowl decorated with spiral
pattern (Edwards 1990, 96). Excavations elsewhere in the same city produced hundreds of
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