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Hammerstone

Object

Archaeology

Production date

9600BC-4000BC

Object number

1991.719

Physical Description

Mesolithic, quartzite stone, oval, central indentations each side.

Object history

The hollows on both sides suggest how this was gripped for use as a ‘hammer stone’. This could have been used to crack hazelnuts gathered from trees and shrubs. This rich source of protein could be eaten by roasting whole or grounding down into a flour to make bread or gruel.

This was part of a Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic) assemblage found by Joseph Exhall Greenhill, Principal of Vermont College, Clapton near Hackney Brook. See Transactions of the London & Middlesex Archaeological Society. Volume 20. (1961)

Associated Event

Dimension

Length: 80mm
Width: 60mm
Depth: 20mm

Exhibition Label

From ‘Hackney 300,000 BC: Meet the Neanderthal neighbours and curious creatures of the borough's Old Stone Age’

Hackney Brook

The Hackney Brook is a now covered river that once ran from Stoke Newington Common, past Hackney Downs, to near where Hackney Central railway bridge crosses Mare Street.

In the 1880s a preserved Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic) site was found at the brook. This revealed a range of tools and technologies of the time period.

On display?

No