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Field Visit
Date 9 August 1931
Event ID 1130431
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1130431
Steatite Workings, Fethaland.
Close to the sea at Cleber Geos, on the E. side of the peninsula known as the Isle of Fethaland, is a precipitous outcrop of steatitic rock, the surface of which bears plentiful traces of the cutting out of urns, bowls, and vessels of all sorts (Figs.550 and 551). This is the most extensive group of steatite workings in Shetland, and was first recorded in 1877 (1) when, however, the significance of the markings on the rock was not understood. The fact that steatite urns were in use as early as the Bronze Age indicates that the practice of making them has had a long history, although the cuttings now visible cannot be dated. It is interesting to note that exactly similar methods of working steatite were employed by the aborigines in many parts of North America. For a full account of the processes, the tools used, and the geographical distribution of the quarries, with illustrations and some references to other literature, see Bulletin 60 of the Bureau of American Ethnology, pt. i, pp. 228-40.
RCAHMS 1946, visited 9 August 1931
(1) PSAS, xii (1876-8), pp. 202-5.
9 August 193I.
