A Neolithic Voyage

Abstract

Examination of stone artefacts from Maiden Castle, Dorset, led to the identification of a Neolithic saddle-quern which originated in central Normandy. While stone axes from Brittany and jadeitite axes from the Alps have long been known from central southern England, the quern is the largest and heaviest Neolithic import yet identified. It has a bearing on the debate about indigenous or immigrant origins for the Neolithic, but also re-opens the question of the type of boat that plied the Channel at this early period. It is argued that logboats, for which there is evidence, should not be overlooked in favour of skin-boats for which there is none.

Neolithic Britain and Ireland: are we nearly there? - Hilary K. Murray, J. Charles Murray & Shannon M. Fraser. A tale of the unknown unknowns: a Mesolithic pit alignment and a Neolithic timber hall at Warren Field, Crathes, Aberdeenshire. xii+132 pages, 51 b&w & colour illustrations, 19 tables. 2009. Oxford: Oxbow; 978-1-84217-347-3 hardback £20. - Anna Ritchie. On the fringe of Neolithic Europe: excavation of a chambered cairn on the Holm of Papa Westray, Orkney. xx+152 pages, 49 illustrations

“…The authors have argued that the quern (or its stone) is a Neolithic import from the Rhineland, and they suggest that other quern fragments of the same material found in Wessex may also represent Neolithic imports. This is a remarkable claim, whose potential importance (if correct) has not been appreciated: while we now have good evidence for the crossChannel Neolithic importation of a quern from Normandy to Maiden Castle (Peacock et al 2009), as part of a suite of evidence for fourth-millennium cross-Channel links between southern England and north-western France (Sheridan et al 2008 and2010), there is no evidence for Neolithic contact with Germany, so this discovery, if genuinely Neolithic, would be very significant. However, a question mark must remain over the Sewerby quern's date.…”

Navigation in the Neolithic

“…It is also clear that stone axes were extensively traded by land, by river and, most importantly, by sea (Cummins, 1979: 10; Burl, 1988; Bradley, 2007: 18, Cummings, 2009). We have a growing understanding of the vessels that they used (see discussion in Peacock et al ., 2010), but we do not yet understand the precise routes they took, and the navigation processes they used to ensure safe passage in the most treacherous of waters. As others have pointed out, astronomical markers were not the same at the time, and suitable observations could have been made at some megalithic sites (Burl, 1988) and the work of Davidson shows that this could have permitted safe navigation.…”