The Manx Stone Axe-head Project Interconnection or Isolation? The evidence from stone axe- heads for the Manx Neolithic in its Irish Sea context. KATIE KEWLEY UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL | October 2016 A thesis submitted for the consideration of a degree of doctor in philosophy at the University of Liverpool in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Science, Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, Centre for Manx Studies. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to sincerely thank my husband, my mother and father, and my friends for all the patience and support they have provided me during this endeavour. Similarly, I wish to thank my supervisors and examiners, Elisabeth Rushworth, Matthew Ponting, Harold Mytum, Anthony Sinclair and Gabriel Cooney for their guidance and feedback, and in addition, the comments and encouragements offered by Peter Davey, Philippa Tomlinson, Allison Fox, John Caley, Mike Hoy, Pat McClure, Dave Martin, Rachel Crellin and the members of the Implement Petrology Group, in particular, Vin Davis, have been invaluable. Thank You. All mistakes, errors and omissions are my own. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ii Table of Contents iii Table of Figures vi CHAPTER 1 1 1.1 Introduction 2 1.2 The Isle of Man in context 9 1.3 Project Aims 10 1.4 A brief historiography of Neolithic research in Britain and Ireland 1.4.1 Provenance Studies: an inter-disciplinary, inter-national approach 17 1.4.2 Interpreting Neolithic trade and exchange 35 38 1.5 Manx Neolithic research 1.5.1 The Ronaldsway Culture 48 1.5.2 Manx axe-head research 53 CHAPTER 2 58 2.1 The Manx Stone Axe-head Project 59 2.2 Methodology 63 2.3 The Manx Stone Axe-head Database CHAPTER 3 70 3.1 Morphology 71 3.2 Quantifying Morphological Data 74 3.3 Object Types and Nomenclature 3.3.1 Axe-heads and Adzes 80 3.3.2 Chisels 86 3.3.3 Shafthole Implements 89 3.3.4 Flint Implements 93 3.3.5 Miscellaneous Lithic Artefacts 95 3.3.6. Manuports 100 3.3.7. Replicas 104 iii 105 3.4 The morphology of polished stone axe-head on the Isle of Man 3.4.1 Shape Classification 105 3.4.2 Dimensions 122 127 3.5 Surface Features: the effects of petrology and context on morphology CHAPTER 4 132 4.1 Petrology and Chemistry 134 4.2 Examining Axe Petrology 4.2.1 Macroscopic Inspection 137 4.2.2 Weathering 139 4.2.3 Optical Microscopy 140 141 4.3 The Petrology of Manx stone axe-heads 4.3.1 Volcaniclastic Axe-heads, including ‘Group VI’ tuffs from Cumbria, England 145 4.3.2 Grouped Greenstones, Granophyre, Dolerite and Porphyry Axe-heads 146 4.3.3 Group IX: porcellanite axe-heads from County Antrim, Northern Ireland 147 4.3.4 Dolerites and other ungrouped igneous axe-heads 149 4.3.5 Ungrouped Sedimentary and Metamorphic Axe-heads 151 151 4.4 Hunting the Manx Source 4.4.1 Group XXV axe-heads 153 4.4.2 Group XXV source areas 156 165 4.5 X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry 4.5.1 Chemical analysis techniques in archaeology 165 4.5.2 The application of PXRF in Provenance Studies 167 4.5.3 Calibration and analytical method development 180 4.5.4 Setting PXRF Parameters 183 4.5.5 The result of PXRF analysis of Manx axe-heads and sample sources 186 iv CHAPTER 5 190 5.1 Gathering Contextual Information 5.1.1 Find Spots 190 5.1.2 Find Type 193 200 5.2 Dating the Manx Neolithic 203 5.3 Distribution Patterns 5.4.1 Axe-heads in Ayre 208 5.4.1 Axe-heads in Michael 209 5.4.1 Axe-heads in Garff 210 5.4.1 Axe-heads in Rushen 211 5.4.1 Axe-heads in Middle 220 5.4.1 Axe-heads in Glenfaba 220 222 5.5 Comparative Axe-head Survey 225 5.6 Understanding Contextual Data CHAPTER 6 228 6.1 Discussion and Conclusions 241 6.2 Utilising resources in the Manx Neolithic 243 6.3 Interconnection or Isolation? 246 6.4 Further Work Bibliography ccxlix v TABLE OF FIGURES Figure 1:1 A topographic map of the Isle of Man © TerraMetrics Inc., 2015 5 Figure 1:2 A drift map of the Isle of Man (Murphy et al., 2006 p. 8 Fig. 1.3) 6 Figure 1:3 Basic geographical facts about the Isle of Man 7 Figure 1:4 A geological map of the Isle of Man, taken from Chiverrell and Thomas (2005, p. 3 Fig. 1) [with 8 additions in red] Figure 1:5 A list of source rocks used in the production of polished stone axeheads in Britain and Ireland, 23 compiled by the Implement Petrology Group (Clough and Cummins, 1979, p. 127) Figure 1:6 The IPG distribution map of grouped rock sources (as of 1988) duplicated here from SAS II: ‘The 32 location of known and probable sources of grouped rocks in Great Britain… [certain smaller groups] are not shown…' (Clough and Cummins, 1988, p. 265) Figure 1:7 IPG Axe Record Sheet (DRAFT 2015-07) (Davis, R.V., 2015, p. 6) 33 Figure 1:8 IPG Axe Revised Shape Classification (DRAFT 2015-07) (Davis, R.V., 2015, p. 8) 34 Figure 1:9 Conventional and proposed period names for Manx prehistory [adapted from Davey and Innes 43 (2002, p. 51 Fig. 7)] Figure 1:10 The Billown Neolithic Landscape Project Map, downloaded from the Bournemouth University 45 Archaeology website, [with additions in red] Figure 1:11 Eleanor Megaw's plan of the Ronaldsway House Site (Bruce et al., 1947, p. 144) 50 Figure 1:12 Eleanor Megaw's cross‑sections through the Ronaldsway House Site (Bruce et al., 1947, p. 142) 51 Figure 1:13 Garrad's distribution map of Manx stone axeheads (Garrad, 1978a, p. 166) 56 Figure 1:14 Larch Garrad's distribution map of analysed RTBAs (Coope and Garrad, 1988, p. 68) 57 Figure 2:1 Photographs before and after Photoshop™ 62 Figure 2:2 Inside Scrivener: The Binder 68 Figure 2:3 Inside Scrivener: The Editor 68 Figure 2:4 Inside Scrivener: The Inspector 69 vi Figure 3:1 The nomenclature of axe-head parts (illustrated by Pip Kewley) 73 Figure 3:2a Studied Artefacts by Object Type 76 Figure 3:2b Object Types by Damage 77 Figure 3:3 Broken axe-head from Billown Quarry Site (Darvill and Chartrand, 2004, p. 18) 77 Figure 3:4a Figure 3:4a The Shulishader axe haft, drawn by Helen Jackson for NMS (Brophy and Sheridan, 79 2012, p. 95) Figure 3:4b The hafting of axe-heads and adze 79 Figure 3:5 Incomplete Axes 83 Figure 3:6 Reworked Stone 85 Figure 3:7 Chisels in the Manx Museum collection 86 Figure 3:8 Manx Shafthole Implements 90 Figure 3:9 IPG Shafthole Shape Categories 92 Figure 3:10 Flint Implements 94 Figure 3:11a Natural Stone 98 Figure 3:11b Miscellaneous. Lithic Implements Flint Implements 99 Figure 3:12 ‘Shoe Last Celt’ in the Manx Museum collection 101 Figure 3:13a Early Neolithic axes from the lower Rhine basin 102 Figure 3:13b Unusual Roughening 103 Figure 3:14 Replicas 104 Figure 3:15a Artefacts by Face Shape 108 Figure 3:15b Comparison of Face Shapes in the Manx and Irish collections 109 vii Figure 3:16 Cutting Edge Symmetry 111 Figure 3:17 Artefacts by Blade Shape 114 Figure 3:18a Adzes: asymmetry in profile 115 Figure 3:18b Manx Axe-heads by Blade Sharpness 115 Figure 3:19a Artefacts by Butt End Shape 117 Figure 3:19b Manx and Irish Axe-heads by Butt End Shape 118 Figure 3:20 Artefacts by Profile Shape 119 Figure 3:21 Artefacts by Cross Section Shape 120 Figure 3:22 Artefacts by Length (in mm) 123 Figure 3:23 Artefacts by Width (in mm) 125 Figure 3:24 Artefacts by Thickness (in mm) 125 Figure 3:25 Stereotypical RTBA form 126 Figure 3:26 Roughened axe-heads in British collections 129 Figure 3:27 Conditions of Artefacts Studied 129 Figure 3:28 Manx roughened and truncated butt axe-heads 130 Figure 4:1 Manx and Irish Axe-heads by Rock Category 136 Figure 4:2 The assignment of IPG Groups to Manx axe-heads 136 Figure 4:3 The variable effects of weathering on Manx Group VI axe-heads 139 Figure 4:4a Artefacts by Rock Type 142 Figure 4:4b A comparison of rock types in the Manx and Irish axe-head collections (additional data (Cooney 143 and Mandal, 1998, p. 55) viii Figure 4:4c Table of Artefacts by Rock Type 144 Figure 4:5 Porcellanite axe-heads on the Isle of Man 148 Figure 4:6 Group XXV RTBA Axe-Head Subgroups 154 Figure 4:7 Group XXV Photomicrographs 155 Figure 4:8 Comparing axe-heads to source samples 157 Figure 4:9 Taylor and Gamba's survey of the Oatlands pluton (Taylor and Gamba, 1933, p. 357 Fig. 40) 158 Figure 4:10 Group XXV source area samples 159 Figure 4:11 Roscoe, J. (undated) Ballapaddag map annotated 161 Figure 4:12 PXRF Location Shots 179 Figure 4:13 Calibration Standards for Al6061, provided by ThermoScientific Ltd. 181 Figure 4:14 Daily Calibrations during axe-head analysis 181 Figure 4:15 Daily Calibrations during source sample analysis 182 Figure 4:16 PXRF test parameters 184 Figure 4:17 Results for the Loch Dhoon samples used to test PXRF parameters 185 Figure 4:18 Considered elemental ratios 187 Figure 4:19 Apparent data clusters in PXRF data 188 Figure 4:20 Poorly correlated elemental ratios in PXRF data 189 Figure 5:1 The Sheadings, Parishes and Towns of the Isle of Man 192 Figure 5:2 Burrow's distribution map of Manx stone axe-heads (1997, p.