Skip to main content
E34 Scutching Knife/ Paddle
E34 Scutching Knife/ Paddle
E34 Scutching Knife/ Paddle

E34 Scutching Knife/ Paddle

Date12th - 13th Century
Object NameScutching Knife/ Paddle
Mediumwood
ClassificationsArchaeology Excavated
DimensionsOverall (Length x Width x Depth): 415 × 13 × 110mm
AcquisitionTransferred from Historic Scotland.
LocationView by Appointment
Object numberABDMS034279
About MeSite number: E34
Site name: Gallowgate Middle School
Context number: 107
Trench number: 2
Feature number: CT
Phase number: 2
Catalogue number: 518 ('Aberdeen: An In-depth View of the City's Past')

This object has been fashioned from radially-split oak. It has long sloping shoulders which are asymetric in the angle of the slope, a blade which is rounded in shape and a rectangular handle. It may be a scutching knife, a tool used in the production of flax. Scutching is part of the process to remove the stalks and bark from the fibres, and is done by beating the flax with the knife against a wooden board.


Blade width: 80 mm; thickness: 5 mm
Shoulder width: 114 mm; thickness: 13 mm
This object, made from oak,
E34 Textile Fragments
12th-14th Century
E34 Textile Fragment
12th-14th Century