The recording and archaeological potential of tool marks on prehistoric worked wood : with special reference to Oakbank Crannog, Loch Tay, Scotland

• Main Author: Sands, Robert J. S.
• Published: University of Edinburgh 1994
• Subjects: 930.1
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.661574

Well-preserved waterlogged timbers are increasingly being found as more wetland and submerged archaeological sites are being investigated. Such timbers can often preserve a record of the tools used in their working and it is this detail that is at the core of the current study. When a tool is used to work wood the details of its blade edge can be very well preserved on the timber's surface. Points of damage on a blade, possibly a break or bend in the edge, can be registered on the wood surface as either a ridge or a groove running down the long axis of the facet produced. The sequence of ridges or grooves created by a blade can act like a signature for the use of that particular tool. When the same sequence of ridges and grooves are found on facets from different timbers those timbers can be associated through the single tool used in their working. Associations produced in this manner represent manufacture that is probably no more than a few hours apart. Crucially this is directly related to the working of the timbers and is independent of the evidence of association that might be demonstrated through other techniques, such as dendrochronology. This thesis explores the archaeological uses of such information on waterlogged settlement sites with a number of constructional phases. Wooden material from the Late Bronze/Early Iron Age site of Oakbank Crannog, Loch Tay, Perthshire, Scotland, provides the data for this investigation. Crannogs are artificial islands found in both Scottish and Irish lochs. Many crannog sites are now completely submerged and Oakbank crannog represents the only example in Scotland to be excavated underwater using diving equipment.