The History Blog

A rare polissoir, a stone used by Neolithic people to sharpen and polish stone axe heads 5,000 years ago, has been discovered in the Valley of Stones National Nature Reserve in Dorset. It is only the second polissoir found undisturbed in situ, known as an “earthfast” stone, in England.

The boulder is a sarsen stone, a form of sandstone best known for its use in Stonehenge and other Neolithic megalithic monuments. Of more than 1,000 sarsen boulders documented in Dorset, only a handful bear the tell-tale evidence of having been used to polish tools.

The presence of the polishing stone was revealed when volunteers cleared the area of vegetation that had grown over the sarsen stones, obscuring them from view. It top surface has a scooped, glossy area created when the edges of the axes were swiped over the spot repeatedly to hone and sharpen them.

Anne Teather and Jim Rylatt, directors of Past Participate CIC a non-profit company that helps people find out more about local heritage, were working in another part of the valley when they decided to stroll over to see how they were getting on.

Rylatt got there first and saw the boulder. “It’s a relatively unprepossessing boulder on one side,” he said. But then he flicked away some leaves and found the shiny, polished area. “It’s safe to say I was surprised. The only other one found in situ in England was found in the 1960s at Fyfield Down [in Wiltshire].” […]

It may be that this was a work area rather than a living one. “There may have been people doing other things here, processing animal skins perhaps, cutting up meat to make dinner.”

Teather said the polissoir was close to an ancient routeway. “You can imagine people coming to the stone to polish axes. This was not necessarily a place of settlement but a place people came to and moved through.”

The area around the stone has now been excavated and analyzed to determine if there is any archaeological material — lithics, organic remains — left by the Neolithic axe makers. The discovery of the polissoir has also spurred Historic England to study the landscape to shed new light on its prehistoric occupation.

A section of a Bronze Age gold flange twisted torc has been discovered in a field near Mistley in Essex by a metal detectorist. It was reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme three years ago, but has only now been officially declared treasure by a coroner’s inquest. This is the first Bronze Age gold torc found in Essex ever reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

Flange twisted torcs were produced in the Penard metalwork phase of the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1300-1150 B.C.). They were made by cutting four longitudinal cuts into a solid gold bar to form an x-shaped cross-section, then turning the ends of the bar left and right to create the twisted effect. The ends were then forged into trumpet terminals.

The twisted band of the Essex fragment is about 5.8 inches long with one surviving trumpet terminal 2.4 inches long. At just over eight inches long all together, archaeologists believe this is less than half of the length it was when intact. It is dented on several points along the twisted edges, probably caused by agricultural work long after it was deposited. There are also three bends in it, and the sharp break end is likely modern as well. The terminal, which originally would have been bent back at the join with the twisted band, has been straightened out.

[Finds liaison officer Lori] Rogerson said a “highly skilled” goldsmith worked on it and “would have had to twist it, it’s a really soft material so it is at risk of tearing,”

“He or she would have known just the right point to stop before it broke, while getting those twists in,” she added.

British Museum researchers subjected the torc to X-ray fluorescence analysis to determine its composition. It is 75-77% gold, 18-20% silver and the remaining 5-3% copper. That makes it 18 karat gold.

Now that it has been declared treasure, a valuation committee will determine its fair market value and a local museum will be given the opportunity to pay the valuation sum to secure the torc. The money will be split 50-50 between the finder and landowner. The Colchester Museum hopes to acquire it for its collection.

An unusual burial of a Roman soldier, his iron sword, crossbow fibula and hobnailed shoes attesting to his profession and rank, has been discovered in Wales. He was buried face-down in prone position and large nails were found at the back of his neck, shoulder and between his feet. This atypical posture and the presence of the nails indicate he may have been bound in strong restraints before burial.

He was not enslaved or your garden variety criminal, as such a burial position might suggest.  He was not tossed into a pit, but carefully placed in a rock-cut grave edged with wooden planks. The sword found between his legs is the long and straight spatha type that replaced the short gladius as the standard infantry weapon in the 3rd century A.D. The silver crossbow brooch marks him as a person of high position in military or civil administration, and it is the first of its kind ever discovered in Wales.

Crossbow fibulae came into use in Late Antiquity, from the late 3rd century through the middle of the 6th century A.D., in the Western and Byzantine Empire. They were worn as cloak fasteners by military officials and civil servants and came to be strongly associated with military and civil authority. Richly ornamented examples made of precious metals were given as gifts for service to senior imperial officials by Roman emperors. Great general and power not-so-behind the throne Flavius Stilicho (365-408 A.D.) was depicted wearing one, and common Roman soldiers took up the trend, sporting cheaper versions in bronze and copper.

Analysis of the soldier’s burial dates it to the 3rd or 4th century. He was between 21 and 25 old when he died, and was suffering from a bacterial infection of the mastoid bone at the time of his death. Stable isotope analysis found that he was not a native of the area. He was born and raised east of Wales.

The grave was unearthed in Vale of Glamorgan in 2017 by Rubicon Heritage Services archaeologists in advance of a road building project. It was in a field used for agriculture in the Roman era, not in a dedicated cemetery, although another four burials were found at the site. One of them contained the remains of an individual who had been decapitated and his head placed at his feet. Decapitated burials and prone burials often occur together.

Researchers have begun to pay more attention to patterns of atypical burials in Western Europe during the Roman period, but so far, no single explanation for these kinds of burials has been found. Whether it was for low-status individuals, criminals or those their communities wanted to ensure “stayed dead,” cross-culturally, prone burials are never seen as a positive way of disposing of the deceased.

This Roman soldier is therefore something of a mystery — one that may never be solved. “It is interesting that he was buried prone but still with his ‘regalia,'” Collard said. “Raises more questions than answers!”