Open AccessRe-examination of the quartz artefacts from Scord of Brouster
Author(s) -
Torben Bjarke Ballin
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
scottish archaeological internet reports/scottish archaeological internet report
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2056-7421
pISSN - 1473-3803
DOI - 10.9750/issn.2056-7421.2005.17.1-36
Subject(s) - assemblage (archaeology) , shetland , quartz , archaeology , settlement (finance) , geology , lithic technology , geography , paleontology , oceanography , payment , world wide web , computer science
In the late 1970s, a substantial quartz assemblage was recovered from the Neolithic settlement at Scord of Brouster, Shetland (NGR: HU 2560 5165) . At the time, bipolar technique (which is responsible for a substantial proportion of the assemblage), as well as quartz technology in general, were poorly understood, and it was not possible to fully make use of the assemblage in the interpretation of the site, the region, or the period. With our expanded understanding of bipolar approaches and quartz technology, this is now possible, and, in the present paper, the assemblage is re-examined, re-classified and re-interpreted. The quartz assemblage is used to gain a deeper insight into the site itself, and its lithic component and a first sketch of the territorial structure of Neolithic Scotland is presented.