Archaeology Section Report for 2009

Transactions of La Societe Guernesiaise, 2008

s expertise in relation to Neolithic flint mining was based on excavations at the mine of Kleinkems (Baden) already carried out in the 1930s and 1950s. Using this as background and in connection with a short summary of the regional history of flint mining research, the author describes both of Schmid's excavation campaigns in Veaux-Malaucène.

In: J. Proctor, Late Bronze Age / Early Iron Age placed deposits from Westcroft Road, Carshalton: their meaning and interpretation, 86-91. Surrey Archaeological Collections 86, 65-103.

This paper details the results of the excavation of a late Late Bronze Age site at Westcroft Road', Carshalton, and the analysis of material recoveredfrom the site. The archaeological remains consisted of a series of cutfeatures, which do not have any apparent domestic or agricultural function. Artefacts and faunal material had been placed at the bases of many of these features in an ordered manner, and on the basis of environmental indicators, almost certainly in late spring, these remains are interpreted as representing a ritual structured deposition. Placed deposits have been identified on sites dating from the Neolithic to the Iron Age and there is growing evidence from the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age periodfor ritual activity which is very similar in form and content to the findings from Westcroft Road. This paper discusses the remains from Westcroft Road in the light of this evidence, examines the site within the context of Late Bronze Age occupation in the locality, and proposes an interpretation of the meaning of the ritual activity.

Balmedie-Tiperty, 212-220. Oxford: Oxbow Books. In my communications with Oxbow Books (14 April 2013), it was explained to me that this publisher has an embargo period of three years during which time it is not accepted to upload publications on sites like Academia. However, three years after publication, publications can freely be uploaded. For artefact illustrations, see the monograph which can be purchased from Oxbow Books. Fig. 1. The applied database format showing the data relating to CAT 2448, a conical single-platform core. Due to the involved artefact numbers, the complexities of the sites, and the limited amount of time available for the analysis, it was decided to be strict in terms of which attributes were recorded, and how they were recorded. It was therefore agreed within the project to focus only on attributes which were certain to be of relevance to the discussion of the present project's sites, including Standingstones, drawing on the analyst's recent experience with the cataloguing and discussion of other large Scottish assemblages, such as 1,670 flint cores and tools from the c. 30,000-piece assemblage from Nethermills Farm in Aberdeenshire (Ballin 2013a), c. 10,000 mainly Neolithic quartz artefacts from RUX6 (the Udal Project) on North Uist (Ballin 2015), and c. 10,000 mainly Early Bronze Age flint and quartz artefacts from the Barabhas dunes on Lewis (eg, Ballin forthcoming). The following principles were followed: Chips: These pieces of debitage are defined by being smaller than 10mm and it is not necessary to know whether they measure 8mm or 3mm across-not to be measured. Flakes: The measurements of these pieces are only rarely used, and although in some cases it would be interesting (technologically speaking) to know whether the blades and the flakes form one continuum or two separate clusters (cf. Figs 2-3), These measurements are not strictly necessary-not to be measured. Blades/microblades: These pieces (and not least their sizes and technological attributes) are of some diagnostic value, and they are also important as blanks of microliths. It is suggested to measure intact pieces in three dimensions, and in the case of fragments, only the width (which is the key diagnostic dimension). Indeterminate pieces: Like the flakes, these pieces are not measured. Cores (incl. frags of cores which can be identified to type): To be measured in three dimensions. Core frags (which can't be referred to any formal type): GD only. Tools and core preparation flakes (crested pieces and platform rejuvenation flakes) and their frags: Three dimensions. Microliths: It is suggested to measure intact pieces in three dimensions, and in the case of fragments, only the width (which is the key diagnostic dimension). As the only group of artefacts, the microliths and their fragments are measured with one decimal. This is the generally accepted standard, as the absence of this decimal would result in many microliths 'landing' on top of each other in a diagram showing their sizes, distorting the visual impression of these pieces. The definitions of the main lithic categories are as follows: Chips: All flakes and indeterminate pieces the greatest dimension (GD) of which is  10mm. Flakes: All lithic artefacts with one identifiable ventral (positive or convex) surface, GD > 10mm and L < 2W (L = length; W = width). Indeterminate pieces: Lithic artefacts which cannot be unequivocally identified as either flakes or cores. Generally the problem of identification is due to irregular breaks, frost-shattering or fire-crazing. Chunks are larger indeterminate pieces, and in, for example, the case of quartz, the problem of identification usually originates from a piece flaking along natural planes of weakness rather than flaking in the usual conchoidal way. Blades and microblades: Flakes where L  2W. In the case of blades W > 8mm, in the case of microblades W  8 mm. Cores: Artefacts with only dorsal (negative or concave) surfaces-if three or more flakes have been detached, the piece is a core, if fewer than three flakes have been detached, the piece is a split or flaked pebble. Tools: Artefacts with secondary retouch (modification). Av. dim.: Average dimensions GD: Greatest dimension. LHS/RHS: Left-hand side and right-hand side. Raw materials-types, sources and condition The lithic assemblage from Standingstones consists entirely of flint. Flint artefacts from the northeast of Scotland have traditionally been associated with honey-brown, red, orange and yellow colours (eg, Stevenson 1948, 181), but examination by the analyst of a number of Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age assemblages from the region has shown that the available flint varies greatly from location to location. Approximately three-quarters of the assemblage from the Kingfisher Industrial Estate north of Aberdeen (Ballin 2008) is in flint of the brown-red-orange-yellow group, and the collection from Culduthel at Inverness (Ballin 2006) is also dominated by flint of this variety. Examination of other assemblages from the area between these two sites, particularly from Moray (Ballin 2014), supported the view that flints from this part of the northeast are dominated by reddish-brown colours. In contrast, the lithic finds from Nethermills Farm near Banchory (Ballin 2013a) includes a multitude of flint varieties, with the two largest groups being flint of the reddish-brown type and flint of a light-grey mottled type. The assemblage from the present site is composed roughly like the one from Nethermills Farm, but dominated by light-grey mottled pieces. The assemblage from the Carmelite Friary in central Aberdeen (Ballin 2001) is composed roughly in the same manner, but with the addition of some olive-coloured pieces and many dark-grey flints, with the latter being medieval and post medieval pieces based on ballast flint and shaped into fire-flints (to be struck by steel strike-alights) and expedient implements. The site of Garthdee Road, Aberdeen (Ballin 2016), from the area near the mouth of the Dee, was dominated by a light-brown variety of flint, with reddish-brown pieces being quite rare. It seems that sites along the Don and the Dee and further south in Aberdeenshire may include less flint of the reddish-brown forms than those further north, with the border between the two groups of sites running immediately north of Aberdeen, with the Kingfisher site on the northern outskirts of Aberdeen (Ballin 2008) belonging to the group of sites dominated by reddish-brown pieces. All these sites include numerous sub-types, such as cream, beige, and black pieces, and although most are fine-grained and pure, some pieces are medium-grained, and some are

Bishop, B. et al. 2019. Flintworking in the Middle Neolithic: techniques, technologies and deposition on Salisbury Plain in the late 4th Millennium BC.Lithics: the Journal of the Lithic Studies Society 40: 1-36., 2020

Excavations at West Amesbury Farm to the east of Stonehenge resulted in the recovery of a large and nationally important struck flint assemblage from five pits securely dated, by radiocarbon and their contained assemblages of Peterborough Ware, to the final centuries of the fourth millennium BC. The sheer quantity of material recovered from the pits (11,329 individual pieces) is notable and it constitutes one of the largest Middle Neolithic assemblages to have been examined in any detail from southern Britain to date. This paper provides an account of the technological and typological characteristics of the assemblages, exploring similarities and contrasts between the individual assemblages recovered from the different pits and their various fills, and places this tradition of flintworking into its wider context.