Location Shetland Periods Norse | Type Quarry | |
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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.
Contents
Location
The Catpund quarry is located beside a burn in Mainland, Shetland.
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. 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.