Limpet Hammer, Chippermore Fort, Mochrum

A collection of five lozenge shaped stone hammers found at Chippermore Fort near Mochrum. These may have been used to gather limpets, but they could also have been used as hammers in flint knapping, or as skin working tools.   Fire and Food: cooking in the Mesolithic Mesolithic peoples have left no trace of their cooking techniques, but food did not need to be eaten raw. Fire could be made in two ways, either by striking together lumps of iron pyrites and flint to produce sparks, or by setting an upright stick into a hole in a horizontal piece of timber and spinning it rapidly, perhaps with a bow drill. Smouldering embers were transferred to dry grassess, kindling, and finally a fire. It is likely that once alight, fires were carefully transferred from hearth to hearth rather than allowed to go out.