An extremely rare and important stone artefact dating back over 5,000 years has been discovered during a community heritage project in West Dorset.
The natural stone boulder has a dished glossy surface where it was used to polish stone axe heads over 5,000 years ago. It has been discovered in the Valley of Stones National Nature Reserve in the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), near Dorchester.
In addition to being on a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), the polishing boulder is located within an area protected as a scheduled monument.
The polishing boulder – known as a polissoir – is formed of sarsen stone, a particularly hard form of sandstone known as silcrete (a cemented mass of sand and gravel), that was used during the Neolithic period for building monuments such as Stonehenge.