Monument record 2138 - ACHMORE, LEWIS

NB32NW 5 321 285.

Part of a broken perforated stone macehead or baffle axe was found while peat cutting. The find is 63cm long, 48cm wide and 35cm thick. It has been broken through the shaft hole and damaged in antiquity along one side. The remaining end is incomplete but appears to be pointed. The shaft hole is bi-conical and measures 1.9cm at its narrowest, and 2.4cm at its widest. The surface was polished and is now etched by immersion in peat.
It is reported to have been lying in the lowest peat, less than 5cm above the fill. There were other small fragments of it seen close by but not retained. Excavation in 1994 over about 15 square metres failed to find any further fragments.
A quartz secondary flake, 29mm by 30mm and 7mm thick, was found within 10m of the macehead, by ourselves this year.
In the adjacent peat bank, some 60m E, a low stone mound, 5.5m by 4.Om across, comprising stones of assorted sizes from 10cm to 1.0m, has been exposed during the last decade. The three largest stones may have tumbled from the 'structure'. Near the centre there are two earthfast stones up to 27cm high, and many of the other interior stones appear to have voids between them.
The peat banks are on low ground, 850m SSE of Achmore stone circle (NB32NW 2).
The macehead was found by, and is in the possession of, Mr Donald MacLeod of Achmore, while cutting peat two years ago, who brought it and the stone mound to our attention.
M R Curtis and G R Curtis 1994e.

M R and G R Curtis and Curtis, 1994e, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 95 (Bibliographic reference). SWE34027.