This week’s #FindsFriday is an antler pick, a tool most commonly associated with the Neolithic period, where they were used to quarry stone and dig the ground for the construction of monuments like Stonehenge. However, this example from Suffolk was found in a pit alongside late Iron Age pottery.
In the Neolithic period, antler picks were sometimes deliberately placed as sacred deposits at the end of their use. While it’s possible that this pick was a found and curated object, it’s more likely that they continued to be used for agricultural or horticultural tasks during the Iron Age. Although antler picks are rare finds from this period, examples have been discovered at Iron Age hillforts like Danebury and Maiden Castle. This recent find provides important evidence of how such tools may have persisted into the Iron Age in Britain.
