Journal of Lithic Studies

A Puddingstone Post!

I always like to shout about the archaeology or geology of my home county of Hertfordshire. There is a particular rock type that can be found here (and neighbouring counties) that is quite unlike any other. While this rock might look like modern concrete, instead it is fossilised pebble beach from around 55 million years ago!

The term puddingstone was first coined in the early 18th century in reference to the colourful flint pebble resemblance to fruity pudding. The rock can be found in walls and gardens in the towns and villages of certain parts of Herts, but was also used in the distant past for quern stones and axe heads!

Having made and posted about replica puddingstone axes last year, I was asked by Gerald Lucy and Mike Howgate if we could provide some images of the axes for their new book. The book also features in the young geologist magazine RockWatch (which I was a member of many years ago).

We have some puddingstone axes on the website currently. They are very time-consuming to make and can be rather troublesome when pebbles detach from the sarsen matrix when flaking or grinding them. I'm not sure they would have made terribly good axes in the Stone Age, but people clearly felt the need to make them!

Museum of Stone Tools 1 like. "Diagonal pressure flaking with antler tools"

Making an Australian Aboriginal edge-ground stone axe The ‘Stone Flaking Techniques’ video series by the Museum of Stone Tools demonstrate some of the flaking techniques that were used to make tools from the ori...

! This perfect plano-convex knife, carefully knapped from flint, was recovered during CFA Archaeology’s excavations in West Yorkshire.

Knives like this date to the Early Bronze Age and are often associated with collared urn cremation burials, although ours was found on its own. The site itself was made up of Romano-British enclosures alongside a large droveway. The only evidence we found for prehistoric activity was in the form of finds like this, which were likely redeposited in the Roman period after being moved from their original burial location - giving our flint knife quite the mysterious origin story! We wonder who made it, and why? And what would they say if they could see our excitement at finding it today?

What do you think?

In Early Neolithic Central Europe, two primary woodworking tools appeared: the 'shoe-last celt' (left) and 'flat adze' (right)

Experimental and computational modelling shows how and why they varied based on how they were used

Learn more 🆓 via the link in our comment 👇

🪨 Talk: Neolithic Axeheads & Their Origins 📢

“Axeheads and Outcrops: Finding the Source of Group XX Neolithic Stone Axeheads in Charnwood Forest”

🎤 Dr Jonny Graham
📅 Thursday 23rd April 2026
🕢 7:30pm
📍 Clephan 0.01, De Montfort University, Leicester

For over 65 years, archaeologists have debated the origin of Neolithic axeheads from petrological Group XX, believed to come from somewhere in Charnwood Forest. In this talk, Dr Graham explores how portable X-Ray Fluorescence (pXRF) has been used to match axeheads from museum collections with geological outcrops—helping to pinpoint their source and shed new light on these fascinating artefacts.

🔍 A great example of how science and archaeology come together to answer long-standing questions.

✅ No booking required
💸 Free entry
👇More information in the link below

Is this one of West Africa's first multi-tools?
Analysis of Ground Stone Axes from Later Stone Age (c.13,000–12,000 years ago) Nigeria indicates they were used for many different tasks, such as wood working, butchery/bone working and digging.

Learn more 🆓 via the link in our comment 👇

The current issue of Northeast Anthropology (Issue Number 95-96, Spring/Fall 2025) is a Festschrift in honor of Dr. Brian Redmond, Emeritus Curator of Archaeology, Cleveland Museum of Natural History. The issue includes many papers related to Ohio archaeology.

1. CLOVIS USE-WEAR ANALYSIS: A REVIEW
G. Logan Miller

2. SPATIAL PATTERNING AT THE PALEO CROSSING SITE, OHIO
Anne B. Parfitt

3. AN UPDATE ON THE OHIO FLUTED POINT SURVEY AND PALEOINDIAN SITE LOCATIONS IN OHIO
Joseph A. M. Gingerich, Gary Argabright, Jonathan E. Bowen, David S. Lamp

4. BRIEF GLIMPSES OF PLEISTOCENE HUNTERS AND THEIR PREY IN NORTH CENTRAL OHIO
Nigel Brush

5. THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF KNOX COUNTY, CENTRAL OHIO
P. Nick Kardulias, Heather L. Gayheart Price, Andrew Womack

6. REVISITING THE PAST TO INFORM THE FUTURE: RESULTS FROM THE KENT STATE UNIVERSITY ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD SCHOOL AT STOW ROCKSHELTER, OHIO
Savannah Hough, Charissa Gilbert, Kevin Langer, Scott McKinny, Jaymes Taylor, Metin I. Eren, Michelle R. Bebber

7. USE AND SOURCES OF FOSSIL SHARK TEETH RECOVERED FROM WOODLAND PERIOD SITES IN OHIO
Katherine M. Sterner

8. ILLINOIS SERPENT EFFIGY MOUNDS AND OHIO’S GREAT SERPENT MOUND: SHARED ICONOGRAPHY, SHARED STORIES
Bradley T. Lepper, Robert F. Boszhardt, James Duncan, Carol Diaz-Granados

9. REVISITING CHRONOLOGY: AMS REDATING OF THE PETERSEN SITE IN NORTHWEST OHIO
Timothy J. Abel

10. ARCHAEOLOGY IN ACTION AND APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGY LABORATORIES
Kevin C. Nolan, Christine Thompson

If you would like to purchase a copy, use the back issue form which can be found on the journal’s webpage. See the link in the comments.

When it came to axe colours, the blues and greens were clearly very popular in the Neolithic!

While flint was commonly used, there were many other rock types used in the Neolithic of the British Isles to make axe heads. One of the most famous is the epidotised greenstone or Borrowdale tuff that can be found in the hills at Great Langdale in Cumbria. This green stone can be flaked just like flint and can be ground to a smooth surfaced axe head in less time than a flint blade. Axes of this type have been found across Britain despite the source being a very localised area.

The axe on the right has a strong connection with Stonehenge despite outcropping around 140 miles away. This spotted dolerite is more commonly known as "bluestone" and was quarried to make stones that would be used at Stonehenge and smaller objects like axes and mace heads.

Both of these stone types make very functional axe heads, other stone types that were utilised are too soft. But it seems very likely that certain rocks types carried special agency, possibly from their location, colour or a collection of reasons. Its important to note that there is plenty of evidence to show these axe types were used for felling trees, woodworking and even as wedges for making planks. Recent analysis has shown that even the largest langdale axes that can be around 40cm in length were fitted into wooden handles!

📸 Prehistoric Jewellery

Ostrich carvings at Arakou, rock art from Niger, Africa.