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Stone Axe

Axe, stone, tuff, oblique butt, oval cross section, curved asymmetrical edge, pale green in colour

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Axe, stone, tuff, oblique butt, oval cross section, curved asymmetrical edge, pale green in colour, found in Doolin.

This item was found by chance along with 13 others by archaeologist Shane Delaney while walking in the Doolin area during the summer of 2000. All the items were surface finds and were found on disturbed ground.

The disturbance was due to the removal of field walls and the subsequent gathering of the wall rubble into mounds. The field system pattern in the area has been significantly altered since the turn of the century as evidence from the SMR map for the area (Sheet 8 and 8a). The field walls that have been removed are not marked on the revised 6 inch O.S. maps from 1913-1918, so they must be later. The access road to the area is also a twentieth century structure, as it is not feature on the SMR. The area where the artefacts were found is marked as an archaeological comlex (SMR CL008-057). This encompasses a number of enclosures and a cashel and possible ancient field systems.

The soil of the area is formed on limestone bedrock and is characterised best by the karst landscape of the Burren.

Researchers at the Irish Stone Axe Project have identified this axe as a Langdale axe from Cumbria in England. It was traded across the Irish Sea and across Ireland to north Clare during the Neolithic period.

Collection: National Monuments (Amendment) Act, 1994

Category: Tool/Implement

2003.0009 (5577)