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Forty-nine of these stone tools and a single antler macehead were selected from the PAS database as the stars of this volume. While these stone artefacts may be representative of early prehistoric objects commonly found in the ploughzone and recorded by PAS, they are not representative of the rich material of these periods. The ‘Stone Age’ title of this book masks its full chronological coverage, which includes the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age in addition to the expected Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic. Indeed, the reader may be left dazzled by the wide array of differing dates for periods cited in the timeline, chapter titles, and object captions. ‘50 Stone Finds’ might be a more apt title, going some way to justifying the inclusion of brief chapters on lithic raw materials and the identification of struck flint.
The ‘50 Finds’ are mostly ordered chronologically and embedded into chapters devoted to distinct periods. The Palaeolithic and Mesolithic chapters provide a rich overview of the changing environment and landscapes of Britain, supported by examples of handaxes, microliths, and other common tools. In contrast, the Neolithic and Bronze Age chapters are brief and confusingly structured – for example, later Neolithic axehead types and Grimes Graves are discussed before early Neolithic jadeitite axeheads.
An awkwardly placed chapter on ‘implements you are likely to find’, inserted between the Mesolithic and Neolithic, interrupts the chronological flow of the text and seems unnecessary when the finds in this volume are mostly reasonably common chance finds.
Despite this, the volume is richly illustrated and a good reminder of some important prehistoric stone artefacts documented by the PAS.
REVIEW BY HUGO ANDERSON-WHYMARK
50 Stone Age Finds from the Portable Antiquities Scheme
Kevin Leahy
Amberley, £15.99
ISBN 978-1398126213
