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Whetstones from Roman Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum), North Hampshire: Character, manufacture, provenance and use. 'Putting an edge on it'.
Contributor(s): Allen, J. R. L. (Author)
ISBN: 1407312804     ISBN-13: 9781407312804
Publisher: British Archaeological Reports Oxford Ltd
OUR PRICE:   $83.60  
Product Type: Paperback
Published: June 2014
Qty:
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- History | Ancient - Rome
- History | Europe - Great Britain - General
- Social Science | Archaeology
Dewey: 936.1
LCCN: 2015463473
Series: BAR British
Physical Information: 0.36" H x 8.27" W x 11.69" (0.98 lbs) 132 pages
Themes:
- Chronological Period - Ancient (To 499 A.D.)
- Cultural Region - Italy
- Cultural Region - British Isles
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

The five-hundred year occupation of Insula IX at Silchester has yielded a sequence of 87 whetstones, mostly tabular but some bar- or rod-shaped. These are described, illustrated and characterized with the help of thin-section microscopic petrography. The whetstones originated in many geological sources, not all of which can at present be identified. Whetstones from the earliest levels at Silchester are comparatively local in origin (sarsen, ironstone) or were made from discarded, imported milling stones(Quartz Conglomerate, Upper Old Red Sandstone). During the first and second centuries AD substantial number of bar-shaped whetstones manufactured in the Wroxeter manner from sandstones in the Weald Clay Formation (earliest Cretaceous) were imported into Silchester. Almost all the whetstones of the later Roman period are secondary in character produced from discarded roofing tiles of Brownstones (Lower Old Red Sandstone) and Pennant sandstone (later Upper Carboniferous) imported from the West Country. Small numbers of whetstones can be traced to the Portland Group (Upper Jurassic) and to the Lower and Upper Greens and Groups (Lower Cretaceous). The provision of sharpening stones to Silchester as a whole is estimated to run into many thousands.