Basic info

Collection

Archaeology

Object name

Whetstone

Object category

Anglo-Scandinavian

Description

Straight sided, slightly tapered at exisitng end. Waterman 1959 describes the York hones: "A considerable number of hones have been found in York on sites productive of material of Viking or early medieval date, but only those from Clifford Street have been recovered in circumstances which suggest direct association with other finds of the period." He goes on to report a summary of the petrographical findinds of Mrs JE Morey and Professor KC Dunham: "Argillaceous and Siliceous Sediments of Lower Palaezoic Type: The second main group of rocks represented among the hones comprises fine-grained silt stones and greywacke sandstones, Since the hones in this group differ from one another it is unlikely that they could be derived from a single working or from a small working area. Hones of this group occur from Clifford Street, from Goodramgate and from Pavement [this example]." The report goes on to say that this example is a indurated siltstone and and finishes: "All the hones described here have one petrographical feature in common; they consist of angular, generally small grains of quartz set in a softer matrix, which may be of micas or clay minerals. Evidently experience had long established that such rocks made the most serviceable hones... there was a trade in metamorphic schist and granulite hones, and on petrographical evidence alone the source of these could have been in north-east Scotland. The remaining honestones in this collection could well have been of local origin."

Production date start

866

Production date end

1066

Period

Anglo-Scandinavian