Macehead

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This unfinished stone macehead was found at Glenisla in Angus, and dates from between 3000 and 2000 BC. Maces could have been used as weapons, but were principally symbols of power and status.

This stone macehead is a type known as an 'Orkney pestle type'. The cylindrical shafthole is unfinished, and the surfaces, though pecked into shape, have not yet been smoothed. It was abandoned unfinished. If complete, it would have been fixed to the top of a handle of wood or other organic material by means of its shafthole.

Maces were used as symbols of power from the late 4th to the early 2nd millennium BC, particularly in the Northern Isles. Many are made from attractively coloured or patterned stones, and would have taken much time to make. This 'pestle' type is occasionally found associated with chamber tombs.

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• Online ID: 000-100-033-019-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  X.AH 31
• Date: Between 3000 and 2000 BC
  
• Material: Granite, grey; cylindrical; partly perforated
  Mace head
  
• Dimensions:
• What: Mace head
  
• Subject:
• Who:
• Where: Scotland, Angus, Glenisla
  
• Event:
• Description: Orkney type pestle mace head of grey granite, partly perforated, from Glenisla, Angus
  
• References:
  • Roe, F.E.S. Stone mace-heads and the latest Neolithic cultures of the British Isles. In: Coles, J.M. and Simpson, D.D.A. (eds) Studies in Ancient Europe. Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1968, pp 145-172. 
  • Roe, F.E.S. Typology of stone implements with shaftholes. In: Clough, T.H.McK. and Cummins, W.A. (eds). Stone Axe Studies. London: Council for British Archaeology (Research Report 23), 1979, pp 23-48. 
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