The Stotfield silcrete (or ‘Stotfield Cherty Rock’), Moray, eastern Scotland: Characterization and discussion of an archaeologically important lithic raw material

Torben Bjarke Ballin, J Faithfull

We describe and discuss a lithic raw material new to Scottish prehistoric research: the Stotfield silcrete or Stotfield Cherty Rock. This material was well-known to Scottish geologists, but it was only recently realized that it had been used by prehistoric people in Moray, eastern Scotland. We describe our examination of archaeological Stotfield silcrete, as well as field information relating to its geological occurrence. The purpose of this work is to shed light on 1) the distribution of this material in the Scottish landscape and thereby also the availability to prehistoric people; 2) the general properties of this raw material and thereby its usefulness to prehistoric groups; 3) the characteristics and variability within what is referred to as Stotfield Cherty Rock or silcrete, guiding identification of samples in archaeological and geological collections; 4) the date of archaeological artefacts in Stotfield silcrete, indicating whether this raw material was used throughout Scottish prehistory or only during some prehistoric periods; and 5) the geographical distribution within Scotland of archaeological Stotfield silcrete, indicating whether this raw material was considered precious and widely exchanged or whether it was perceived as as a low value raw material and only used locally. and/or on an ad hoc basis – or something in between. In addtion we suggest that fluorescence excited by short-wave ultra-violet light may be a useful routine tool for archaeological lithic work.