Hill Of Foudland

NJ63SW 5 c. 60 33.

In 1902 a stone mould for casting flat bronze axes and bar-like objects was found on a small farm on the south face of the Hill of Foudland, in the parish of Insch, Aberdeenshire. It had been turned up by the plough, and no other objects were observed associated with it.

The stone itself is a flat block of reddish brown, quartzose sandstone, somewhat like a voussoir in shape, measuring 8 5/8 inches at its greatest length, 7 inches at its greatest breadth, and 2 to 2 1/2 inches in thickness. The mould is very well preserved and bears, distributed over the two faces and two sides of the stone , moulds for four flat axes of different sizes forming a finely graded set, two smaller axe-like forms, also of different sizes, and two bars, probably used for making plain armlets and the like.

Judging by the portability of the stone and the multiplicity of shapes of moulds thereon, it was probably used by an itinerant bronze-founder (Callander 1904). A cast of the mould was presented to the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, by J C Callander in 1904 (Accession no: CM 23).

J G Callander 1904; (undated) information from the National Museum of Antiquites of Scotland (NMAS) Continuation Catalogue.

No further information as to the location of the find was obtained during the course of field investigation.

Visited by OS (EGC) 28 September 1961.

This mould is in the Anthropological Museum, Marischal College, University of Aberdeen (Accession no: 127); another cast is in the British Museum (1904.6-17.1).

H W M Hodges 1959; D Britton 1963.

No change.

Visited by OS (NKB) 13 March 1969.

(Mould for flat axes, knives or blades, and bars). Single find. Mould of a hard stone with fine grains, red-brown, some matrices rather black. Face A: flat axe, length 126mm, cutting edge 70mm, max. depth 13mm; flat axe, length 146mm, cutting edge 87mm, max. depth 13mm; knife(?), length 85mm (?), width 28mm.

Face B: bar, length 144mm, width 16mm, max. depth 12mm; bar, length 154mm, width 17mm, max. depth 12mm; flat axe (?), length 87mm, cutting edge 35mm, max. depth 6mm; flat axe, length 97mm, cutting edhe 39mm, max. depth 7mm; small blade (?), length 55mm, wodth 20mm, max. depth 6mm.

Sides: blade(?), length prob. 81mm; flat axe, length 97mm, cutting edge 39mm, max. depth 7mm.

Anthropol. Mus. Aberdeen (no. 172).

P K Schmidt and C B Burgess 1981.

The Marischal Museum accession number of this mould is ABDUA: 18237.

Information from RCAHMS (JRS), 17 June 1996.