A number of studies of specific artefact types and materials found in South East Scotland have been undertaken, as part of Scotland- or Britain-wide reviews. There is a need to synthesise these invaluable pieces of the information ‘jigsaw’ within a meaningful overview. The principal examples known to the author are as follows:
Stone Axeheads:
- A listing of all examples that has been thin-sectioned or otherwise petrologically examined was published in Stone Axe Studies 2 (Clough and Cummins 1988), and accompanied by a review of the petrological identification of Scottish stone axeheads (Ritchie and Scott 1988).
- A map that contextualises the Craigentinny all-over-polished flint axehead within the overall Scottish distribution of (most of) such axeheads was published by Alan Saville in his discussion of the example from Bolshan Hill, Angus (Saville 1999).
Maceheads:
- These were reviewed, listed and mapped by Fiona Roe in Stone Axe Studies, Volume 1 (Roe 1979).
Carved stone balls:
- These were listed, mapped and discussed by Dorothy Marshall (1977), and also by Chris Stewart-Moffitt (2022). A 3D photogrammetric model of the ‘Water of Leith’ example – one of two carved stone balls found within the SESARF area – is available on Sketchfab.
Pottery:
- A list and a map of Early Neolithic Carinated Bowl pottery in Scotland was published by Alison Sheridan (2007b).
- Grooved Ware: a Britain and Ireland-wide gazetteer and map were published in 1999 (Longworth and Cleal 1999). An updated gazetteer of Scottish Grooved Ware, undertaken as part of the Tracing the Lines project and the dating and development of Scottish Grooved Ware were discussed in Copper et al (2021) and Copper (2024).
Artefacts of jet and similar-looking materials:
- A list of finds of ‘monster beads’ in Britain was published in Sheridan (2007a), and a list and distribution of belt sliders published in Sheridan (2012a; see also McInnes 1968).
Items of pitchstone:
- A gazetteer and distribution map of finds of Arran pitchstone in Britain and Ireland was published by Torben Ballin (2009).
Middle to Late Neolithic artefacts, particularly those of Yorkshire flint:
- Torben Ballin has reported on the lithic assemblages from Overhowden and Airhouse, Scottish Borders, close to the possible ‘henge’ at Overhowden (2011). There are also much earlier studies of discoidal edge-polished flint knives by J.G.D. Clark (1929) and of oblique (‘lop-sided’) arrowheads by Robert Stevenson (1947).
While such studies lay the foundations for an understanding of aspects of Neolithic material culture in South East Scotland, they need to be updated, and other categories of Neolithic material culture remain inadequately documented.
Saville, A, 1999. ‘A exceptional polished flint axe-head from Bolshan Hill, near Montrose, Angus’, Tayside and Fife Archaeological Journal 5, 1-6 https://www.tafac.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/TAFAJ-Vol-5-2-Polished-axe-from-Bolshan-Hill-Saville.pdf