SOCKETED AXEHEAD

Late Bronze Age bronze socketed axe of Southern English ribbed type, Class B (Type Welby) and of Ewart Park metalworking tradition, corresponding to Needham’s (1996) Period 7, c. 950 – 750BC

The axe-head is complete, with an overall length of 105.4mm and a weight of 344.0g. The mouth of the axe is sub-rectangular, with internal dimensions of 31.1mm (depth) by 25.9mm (width). The sub-triangular socket has a depth of 75.4mm. No casting stubs are evident on the mouth but there are broken areas above each face, where the casting stubs may have been removed. Below the mouth (6.2mm beneath) is a prominent and well-defined mouth-moulding giving the axe a maximum depth of 43.5mm and width of 39.0mm. Beneath the moulding is a plain concave collar ending in a poorly-defined moulding, which appears as a slight step on the looped side. The loop begins immediately above the lower moulding and is of D-shaped section (5.6mm thick) with a width of 10.6mm, a length of 29.0mm and has a height of 11.6mm. The casting seams are clearly visible and have been neatly finished, but appear less well-finished above the loop. The sides are straight before they expand rapidly at the blade to produce a crescentric blade edge with a width of 52.3mm. Little of the original blade edge survives but the blade does not appear to be much worn. The axe has a rectangular body section, where the sides are slightly convex across their width. Both faces of the axe are decorated with three parallel ribs beginning at the lower moulding and continuing for 45mm. The face sides are also slightly enhanced to suggested further ribs. Rows of hammer marks are evident on the blade and sharpening striations are discernible running along the blade. The axe has good surface preservation with a mid-green patina. One face has a recent mark running as far as the blade which cuts the patina and was likely to have been caused during excavation. There is a black deposit surviving over large areas of the axe surface, confirmed by XRD analysis conducted by Mary Davis to be tenorite calcite, which is unlikely to be a natural corrosion product and was seemingly applied as a deliberate coating to the axe surface.