Like other areas of Iron Age Europe, jet-like substances, such as cannel coal, shale and lignite were exploited as a raw material in Scotland to create jewellery (Hunter 2015c, 230–2; see below). Jet has been used to make jewellery since the Neolithic and has always had a magical aura because of its physical property in being able to take an electric charge. Jet is rare as a raw material, with little evidence of its use in the Scottish Iron Age, and other black, organic-rich stones such as cannel coal, lignite and oil shale were used instead. The different materials are broadly distinguishable through XRF analysis (Hunter et al 1993). Shaped and polished to a high sheen, objects such as beads, bracelets, pendants and rings form an important, but until recently, understudied and undervalued material.
At Moredun fort, Perth, a significant quantity of cannel coal/shale finds were recovered, including fragments of bangles and a ring pendant; evidence of repair to a bracelet shows these objects were valued and had long lives (Strachan et al forthcoming).
Other shale objects are known from a variety of sites in Perth and Kinross including fragments of bangles from Castle Craig broch (James 2011; DES 2011, 144), Pitcarmick (MPK2614; Carver et al 2013), from possible Iron Age activity at the Forteviot henge (MPK1888; Brophy and Noble 2009), and a ring from Castle Law, Abernethy (Christison and Anderson 1899).
