Description

Summary: 1 sandstone grooved whetstone (possibly used to sharpen bone points) found by the feet of a primary male and female (shaman/metalworker?) inhumation in bowl barrow Upton Lovell G2a, excavated by William Cunnington

Research results

A grooved stone excavated by William Cunnington in 1801 from the bowl barrow Upton Lovell G2a, the 'shaman' burial. The stone was deposited with a primary double inhumation of a crouched male and female, who had been deposited with a large number of objects, including a jet belt ring, a large number of perforated bone points and boar tusks, a bronze awl and polished flint and stone axes. These grooved stones are thiought to be the tools of specialised craftsmen, and were probably used for shaping wood and bone objects or may have been part of a metalworkers tool kit. Many are made of too hard a stone to be used as a whetstone.

The object, and the other grave goods found with the primary double-inhumation of Upton Lovell G2a, have been examined by Tsoraki et al (2022) as part of the Beyond the Three Age System. This analysis has identified traces of copper and tin, of a composition consistent with Bronze Age bronze working.

This object was examined as part of the research published in Ritual in Early Bronze Age Grave Goods; a six-year research project carried out by Professor John Hunter and Dr Anne Woodward and funded by the Leverhulme Trust. Aided by a large number of other specialists the pair undertood an exhuastive study examining over 1000 objects held in 13 museums across the country in order to provide an extensive overview of burial practices in the period and identify regional practices.