Project title: Experimental research to determine the function of antler and bone ‘bevel-ended tools’ from Mesolithic shell middens of Scotland

Researcher: Steven A. Birch, Edinburgh, Scotland

E-mail: SKYESUB1(at)aol.com

Year: 2003

Abstract:

‘Bevel-ended tools’ of antler or bone are a common find on kitchen middens in Western Scotland, but their function is unknown. The provisional interpretation is that they are tools for opening shell fish, or that they could have been used for working hides, but there are other possibilities. In these experiments the tools will be produced and then used on various materials. Wear on the reconstructed tools will be compared with that on the original artefacts, in order to gain an idea of which material(s) they were originally used upon. The experiment is part of a larger project which has the aim of understanding the daily life of Stone Age people on and around the kitchen middens.

Reference number: HAF 05/03