6.4.3 Shale Working

In East Lothian the working of shale and related items into jewellery occurs on ten sites (29%); this is markedly less common than in the West of Scotland, where virtually every excavated site has such evidence (Hunter 1998, 51). These patterns may be connected to the relative local availability of raw materials, which are abundant in west-central Scotland but less so in East Lothian. Oil shales are reported as coastal exposures from Port Seton to Dunbar (Gibson 1922, 48–52), and there may be inland exposures in river valleys which are not recorded since they were not commercially viable in recent times. The manufacturing evidence does not suggest distribution from a few centres, as only one site has finished products but no manufacturing evidence. However, although the production process is relatively simple, there are hints that it may have been restricted, as on current evidence it occurs exclusively on sites with other evidence of manufacturing activities or access to exotic material. While bangles and other jewellery of shale and such materials are abundant on Traprain and Broxmouth, it is noteworthy that stray finds are exceedingly sparse – again in contrast to western Scotland – hinting that the use of such jewellery may have been comparatively restricted in the area (Hunter 2009).