Farmer unearths Ice Age trowel
Submitted by vicky on Thursday, 04 December 2003 Page Views: 1740
DiscoveriesA primitive tool made during the last Ice Age some 8,000 years ago has been discovered in a Lincolnshire field. Known as a perforated stone, it is believed the tool was used for digging up roots by people living between 6200 and 4500 BC. The stone is oval and features a hole piercing the centre which has been made with an early grinding technique using wood and sand.It was discovered last month by a farmer lying on top of a cultivated field near Owston Ferry, north of Gainsborough.
Once cleaned, the stone was reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme - a project which records archaeological artefacts found by the public.
Finds liaisons officer Kurt Adams (29) said the stone was well made.
"The hole was made using a stick and some sand - by gradually grinding the stick and sand onto the same spot a hole is formed.
"The centre of the hole is narrow and widens towards the top and bottom.
"This is because the grinding method would have been used on either side of the stone."
The stone is pebble-like, greyish brown, measures 7cm long, 5cm wide, 2cm thick and weighs around 95 grams.
Mr Adams said: "The pictorial evidence suggests that Mesolithic man would have attached the stone to a stick.
"The stick would have simply been put through the hole and would have been held in by force alone.
"Originally it was thought they were used as a weapon but more recently it is believed the perforated stone was used like a trowel."
The Mesolithic period, or middle stone age, is defined as a hunter gatherer population. At the time Britain was still attached to mainland Europe - the sea water that now divides Britain would have been frozen inside the ice caps.
Mr Adams said it would have been a harsh environment to live in.
"Britain was covered in trees which would have provided shelter and a good source of hunting.
"Due to the harsh conditions people were expending much more energy just to survive.
"As a result they needed a high protein diet and so would have hunted for meat, pick berries and dug for roots."
Findings from the Mesolithic age are rare. The population of Britain was around 200,000 and there were only 150 to 200 settlements.
In Lincolnshire there were two Mesolithic sites, Sheffield Hill and Risby Warren, both near Scunthorpe.
Mr Adams added: "It is believed that the men would have hunted the animals and the women gathered berries and roots," he said.
"So the stone was probably used by women in the first instance.
"It is thought the women were not strong enough to dig with a stick alone and needed the weight of the stone to penetrate the earth."
Amateur archaeologist Bill Bee (76) of Scotter, near Gainsborough, has been collating Mesolithic finds for the past more than 50 years.
Among his oldest finds is a 150,000 year old axe head.
He said: "Stones which circular in shape and have a hole through the middle were typically used for digging.
"To find one in Lincolnshire is not unusual but the stones like this are rare.
"From this period it is more common to find microliths which are a weapon made from flint."
Check out other finds in Lincolnshire and elsewhere here.
Source: This is Lincolnshire 04/12/2003
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