Avon Gorge , Chatelleraut, S Lanarkshire 2025
The worked stone tools
Ann Clarke, February 2026
Three cobble tools were recovered during excavation (see catalogue below). All are from the same layer 903. They include a small faceted cobble (Fig 1), a smoother (Fig 2) and another possible smoother. The faceted cobble (SF2) bears a pecked facet on the narrow end of the stone from use as a hammerstone. The use of the smoother (SF3) has left only light traces of wear on the surface but black staining is visible on the flatter smooth surface most likely a residue from the material being worked or possibly from the context in which the tool sat. Another flat cobble (SF4) bears a slight sheen on the flatter face suggesting it may have been used as a smoother too.
Faceted cobbles are a common tool type in prehistoric Scotland and are present in contexts dating from the Neolithic to the Iron Age (Clarke 2006). Smoothers are more common in Scottish Iron Age contexts, and some of these tools have a residue or discolouration on the surface from the substance being worked (ibid). Recent excavations of probable Iron Age occupations at Castle Qua and Black Hill, Lanarkshire recovered four stone tools of which two were smoothers one of which had a faceted end (Clarke 2018). A larger worked stone assemblage from the hillfort at Kaimes Hill, West Lothian included faceted cobbles and smoothers amongst other stone artefacts (Clarke 2004) placing the use of these cobble tools within the Iron Age. In the absence of other evidence it is likely that simple cobble tools such as these from Avon Gorge date to the Iron Age.
Catalogue
903 SF2
Faceted cobble. Sub-oval waterworn cobble of quartzite. A finely pecked facet is worked on the narrow end. ML 82mm; MW 57mm; MTh 42mm
903 SF3
Smoother. Flat oval waterworn cobble of ?sandstone. The lower face is worn smooth with some black staining. ML 92mm; MW 57mm; MTh 37mm
903 SF4
Possible smoother. Flat oval cobble of ?quartzite. Slight sheen on lower face. ML102mm; MW 69mm; MTh 34mm
There are in addition eight cobble fragments loose in the box and with no context number. These are possible heat-cracked stones. They bear no sign of having been used and the pock marks on the surface are a result of mineral loss rather than percussion marks. Another unused cobble fragment is SF1 from 903 which is simply a fragment of a quartzite cobble.
References
Clarke, A 2004 ‘Coarse Stone Artefacts’ in DDA Simpson, RA Gregory and EM Murphy ‘Excavations at Kaimes Hill, Ratho, City of Edinburgh, 1964-72’, Proc Soc Antiq Scot 134, 65-118 (96-104).
Clarke, A 2006 Stone Tools and the Prehistory of the Northern Isles BAR 406
Clarke, A. 2018 Stone tool reports from Castle Qua and Black Hill, Lanarkshire. Report produced for CAVLP December 2018
Figure 1: SF1 Faceted cobble
Figure 2: SF 3 Smoother showing dark stained surface