Catpund

Catpund is a quarry site in Shetland, Scotland, where steatite vessels were cut from the rock from prehistory onwards. The quarrying marks are still visible today.

Catpund
Catpund
Location in Shetland Islands, Scotland
LocationShetland
Coordinates60.026398°N 1.238351°W / 60.026398; -1.238351
TypeQuarry
History
PeriodsNorse

Location

The Catpund quarry is located beside a burn in Mainland.[1]

History

Evidence of quarrying from Catpund has been recognised from the 1940s at the latest. An excavation in 1988 revealed part of the quarry floor including the hollows remaining from over one hundred soapstone vessels. Similar vessels were discovered in the later Norse levels at Jarlshof dating to the 12th and 13th centuries AD.

Description

Quarrying scars can be seen along the bank of the burn of Catpund where vessels were chiseled from the rock.[2] Similarities with vessels from Jarlshof indicate that the quarried vessels were likely of Norse date.

Archaeological finds

Several fragments of steatite vessels have been discovered from Catpund and are currently found in the Shetland Museum and the National Museum of Scotland.

Images
  • Quarry workings at Catpund quarry
  • Soft grey soapstone veins

References
  1. Historic Environment Scotland. "Catpund (924)". Canmore. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  2. "Catpund". landforms.eu. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.