A Tale of Two Collectors: The Lithic Collections of Geoffrey Taylor and David Heys (with particular reference to the county of Yorkshire)

Geoffrey Taylor and David Heys together and separately over a 25 year period amassed a huge amount of prehistoric material (almost 20,000 worked pieces and some 250,000 pieces of waste) in flint, jet, stone, glass and metal, gathered mostly off the North York Moors. The present book aims to introduce the collections to the archaeological world and to give the reader a clear impression of their contents. The book begins with brief biographies of the two collectors and outlines the areas in which they collected, principally the North York Moors, and their method of working, before attempting to set their work into its wider prehistoric context. It then explains how the over 18,000 worked pieces in the combined collections are each individually identified, and presents illustrations of selected groups of pieces, such as arrowheads, knives, axeheads, and so on. This is followed up with a more detailed look at some of the more notable classes of artefacts, such as discoidal knives, Iron Age glass bangles, and jet pieces, including a superb undamaged Early Bronze Age jet wristguard (bracer), of which only one other example is known in Britain. To correct the impression that Taylor and Heys only ever collected casual finds off the surface of the moors and farmland, details of several excavations, most never before published, are given. These included pioneering work on the Early Mesolithic of the North York Moors, and the discovery of an Early Bronze Age grave with cremated human remains complete with a Collared Urn and a perforated battle-axehead. At long last, the hitherto unheralded work of these two remarkable individuals is given the credit it undoubtedly deserves.

Table of Contents:
Preface   Chapter 1: The Geoffrey Taylor and David Heys Collections Introduction Geoffrey Taylor David Heys Archive Access Collecting Areas South and West North York Moors – Prehistoric Setting Locations of sites Identification of sites Maps Recording and Illustration   Chapter 2: Databases and Identification Databases Identification of individual lithics Analysis of the Taylor and Heys Collections   Chapter 3: Featured Artefacts and Artefact Groups Discoidal knives (Keith Boughey and Alison Sheridan) Arran pitchstone Haematite Bronze axehead/axehead ingot Coins Glass Jet/Jet-like artefacts   Chapter 4: Excavations South and West Region (Early Bronze Age Excavations 1–3) Excavation 1 (Low Paradise Wood, Boltby) Excavation 2 (Dialstone Farm) Excavation 3 (Murton Common) Central Region (Mesolithic Excavations) ‘Pointed Stone’ and Money Howe Nidderdale South Haw, Masham Moor and Round Hill, Blubberhouses Moor Summary   Appendices Appendix 1: Databases Appendix 2: Database of jet and jet-like items Appendix 3: Locations of Sites Appendix 4: Figures & Photographs Appendix 5: Taylor Diaries 1–4 (1983–1997) Appendix 6: Battle-axeheads from Yorkshire Appendix 7: Lincolnshire   Bibliography

About the Author :
Keith Boughey is a member of the Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society Prehistory Research Section and has been the editor of its journal, Prehistoric Yorkshire, since 2005. From 2008 to 2013 he directed the Stanbury Hill Project and is co-author of The Stanbury Hill Project: Archaeological Investigation of a Rock Art Site (2012). Other publications include Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding (with E.A. Vickerman, 2003), Prehistoric Bingley (2013), and Life and Death in Prehistoric Craven (2015).