A series of hones

Hones were stones, often of rectangular form, used to sharpen knives and other blades. They were sometimes carried at the waist. Such everyday items were sometimes imported from surprisingly distant sources. The hone to the left is made of a ragstone quarried at Eidsborg near Telemark, Norway, but was found in a poor family's home in Rack Street in a context of c.1300.

Acknowledgments: RAM Museum Exeter Archaeology