Catpund Soapstone EarthCache
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An earthcache just off the main road from Lerwick to Sumburgh airport, highlighting a large area of soapstone that has been mined from neolithic to medieval times. A short but fairly steep climb so far from a cache and dash. Will need to climb over the fence by the gate and use the two stiles. Careful using the one by the info board as there is some barbed wire not far away.
The soapstone, or steatite, at Catpund was formed when molten rock from deep in the earth (magma) reacted with heated seawater as sections of the earth's crust, known as tectonic plates, moved apart. A rock that has been transformed by heat and pressure in this way is called a metamorphic rock. At Catpund the original rocks were rich in the mineral olivine (Magnesium iron Silicate) and the transformed rocks contain a high proportion of talc (Magnesium silicate) with bands of a green stone called serpentine that were formed by the same process.
The soft soapstone is ideal for carving and has been mined at Catpund since early prehistoric times. It was most extensively quarried by the Vikings and workings cover an area 1km long right down to where the Catpund Burn meets the shore. Soapstone vessels from Catpund have been found at Jarlshof, near Sumburgh and as far away as iceland and the Faroes. The soapstone was valued partly because clay for pottery is relatively uncommon in both Shetland and northern Scandinavia and partly because the stone retains heat very well - after being warmed on a fire it will radiate heat for hours.
Chisel marks, blanks for bowls and mounds of waste chippings can all be seen at Catpund.
Production at the mine continued irregularly up to the post-medieval period as trade in other vessel types gradually replaced demand for soapstone.
More recently an investigation was made into extracting talc commercially near the site but the proposal didn't go ahead.
At the co-ordinates answer the following questions:
1) What is the Shetland name for soapstone?
2) What are the two different ways in which soapstone can be hardened?
3) Approximately 5m directly in front of the lower, stone-mounted, information board and at the lower level, is a large and prominent depression where a vessel blank has been removed. What shape is this depression?
4)Take a photograph of yourself and/or your GPS at the site but taking care not to reveal the answer to Question 3.
E-mail your answers to Q1-3 to the cache owner and post your photo in your log. No need to wait for a reply to the answers, but we will delete logs if the answers aren't satisfactory, so you may prefer to wait.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)