2 June 2023 The Future is the Product of the Past

Mesolithic stone mace head found during excavation of a site near Buckingham

Archaeologists discovered an attractive Mesolithic stone mace head while excavation of a site near Buckingham. The work was done by Cotswold Archaeology as part of the work for the HS2 project.

The quartzite pebble mace head discovered at the site is roughly oval in plan (105mm x 74mm x 40mm) with a central hourglass perforation (approximately 35mm-20mm in diameter). Both ends of the mace head exhibit light impact damage, suggestive of use as a percussive tool.

The object was hafted, as evidenced by minor wear at the narrow point of the central perforation. Small chip marks around the circumference of the central perforation suggest that it was made using a technique known as pecking, rather than having been drilled.

Unlike later Neolithic mace heads, which are worked to take a specific shape, these Mesolithic objects take the shape of the raw material. Similar pebble mace heads have been found in Britain, including Eton Rowing Lake in Berkshire and Oakhanger in Hampshire, and they are thought to date from the Mesolithic period.

Photo: Cotswold Archaeology

Mesolithic hunter-gatherer activity is thought to have been concentrated in resource-rich areas such as woodland and along watercourses, with recorded sites mostly located on dryer, rising ground. The site was in such a location, on a tributary of the River Great Ouse.

The mace head was found in a post-medieval quarry fill that had cut off a curving ditch. With the mace head coming from a truncated internal deposit, it’s possible that this ditch was once part of a prehistoric ring ditch.

Using aerial photography, two more ring ditches, possibly representing Bronze Age round barrows, have been identified nearby, and two more ring ditches, as well as Bronze Age cremation burials, are known from the surrounding area.

Cotswold Archaeology

Banner
Related Post

A huge artificial lake in Sicily is an ancient sacred pool that was aligned with the Stars and used 2,500 years ago, study reveals

17 March 2022

17 March 2022

A sacred freshwater pool on western Sicily’s San Pantaleo Island that dates back some 2,500 years was aligned with the...

5000-year-old female figurines found in a Ukrainian cave

15 May 2023

15 May 2023

Archaeologists discovered five clay female figurines hidden inside a hole in a wall in Verteba Cave, in the Borshchiv Region...

2,000-year-old altar found in Alexandria Troas

9 October 2021

9 October 2021

A 2,000-year-old altar was unearthed during the ongoing excavations in the ancient city of Alexandria Troas, in a region close...

Ancient settlements that challenge traditional thinking “Karahantepe and Taş Tepeler”

5 December 2021

5 December 2021

After Göbeklitepe in Şanlıurfa, which sheds light on 12,000 years ago in human history and is considered one of the...

Offerings to goddess Demeter uncovered in archaic temple on Crete island, Greek

17 November 2022

17 November 2022

Nestled between two mountain peaks overlooking the harbor, excavations in the ancient city of Phalasarna revealed hundreds of offerings to...

7,000-year-old Ritual Complex Found In Jordan Desert

23 February 2022

23 February 2022

The team of French and Jordanian archaeologists has discovered a 7,000-year-old ritualistic complex near what is thought to be the...

The World’s Largest Pyramid Is Hidden Within a Hill in Mexico

8 October 2022

8 October 2022

The largest and tallest pyramids in the world are incredible feats of design, engineering, and construction. The Great Pyramid of...

Artifacts for sale offered at a Dutch auction house returned to Peru

9 July 2021

9 July 2021

The Dutch government announced in a press release today that the artifacts that were put up for sale at an...

1,800-Year-Old Sanctuary to Mithras discovered in Spain

8 February 2023

8 February 2023

Archaeologists excavating at Villa del Mitra in Cabra, Spain, have uncovered a sanctuary dedicated to the god Mithras, along with...

Archaeologists uncover a 1,500-year-old Lost Mayan city in the Yucatan

28 May 2022

28 May 2022

Researchers have presented their findings after discovering the remnants of an ancient Mayan city on a building site in Mexico....

The Oldest Odin Inscription in the World Found in the Vindelev treasure

8 March 2023

8 March 2023

Scientists have identified the earliest known inscription referring to the Norse god Odin on part of a gold disc unearthed...

A 3800-year-old cylinder seal was discovered at Turkey’s Tepebag Mound excavations

8 July 2022

8 July 2022

In the 2022 excavations of Tepebag Mound, located around Taşköprü, the center of Adana province in Turkey’s Mediterranean Region, a...

The First Native Americans were Among the First Metal Miners in the World

20 March 2021

20 March 2021

An arrowhead made of pure copper 8,500 years ago dates the history of the copper age to an earlier period,...

A Christian monastery, possibly pre-dating Islam, found in UAE

6 November 2022

6 November 2022

A Christian monastery has been discovered on the island of Siniyah off the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE),...

2500-year-old ship graffiti sheds light on the history of Izmir in western Turkey

9 March 2022

9 March 2022

In the Smyrna Agora, which is one of the largest ancient agora in the city center of the world and...

Comments
Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *