File:Axe roughout (ventral drawing) (FindID 486909).jpg

English: Metamafic greenstone axe roughout which has been petrologically analysed by Dr. Roger Taylor as part of the Clodgy Moor Project. Sub-ovate in section and plan with angled sides that taper towards the butt end, and lozenge-shaped in profile. The roughout has been shaped and ground from a weathered cobble to create a blade end and sides to the axe. The roughout is off-centre and its section not quite elliptical, or symmetrical either side of the mid-line. This shows that it was made from a cobble where one side maintains the original smooth surface that is due to the underlying crystalline formation over time, and the other has been pecked and ground, giving it a rougher, newly exposed surface which comes from inside the cobble (Dave Weddle pers comm). The greenstone is typical of that found in the west of Cornwall from known outcrops such as Penlee and contains pale felspars and dark amphibole inclusions (Dr. Roger Taylor pers comm - see notes below).

Examples of similar roughouts and axes have been excavated from the Neolithic settlement at Carn Brea (Mercer, 1981) and are referred to and illustrated on pages 155 & 158, Fig.64, Nos.S5 & CO166.