HOARD

A small late bronze age metalworking hoard comprising of two copper-alloy bun ingot fragments probably dating to the Ewart Park/Llyn Fawr phase c. 850-600 BC.

Fragment no: 1. a fragment of a copper alloy bun ingot with a flat base and a soft chamfered, external edge.

Measurements: length 56.31mm; width: 34.52mm; height: 41.30mm and weight: 193.25g.

Fragment no: 2. a fragment of a copper alloy bun ingot with a flat base and a soft chamfered external edge.

Measurements: length: 37.10mm; width: 24.22mm; height: 33.42mm and   weight: 76.34g.

Discussion:

The two ingots, (see images 1 & 2), were found approximately 30 metres apart by the finder. Three years previously, the finder had recorded (PUBLIC-653814), a fragment of a copper alloy, late Bronze Age blade, probably from a socketed sickle dating c. 850-600 BC. (See image 3). This object was found only 10 metres away from fragment no: 1. suggesting that all three objects are from a dispersed metalworking hoard. (See map below).

Fragment no: 1 and fragment no: 2 are identifiable as fragments of copper bun ingots of plano-convex form. Due to the degraded nature of the break edges it impossible to say whether these fragments belong to one ingot or are from multiple ingots as the breaks are impossible to clearly match. Circular 'bun' ingots, or 'cake' ingots are named after their shape which has one flat side and an opposite curved side. Their plano-convex forms suggest production in a bowl furnace and they are often found in hoards with axe heads and other implements such as:  SUR-C8315D and  KENT-4AFBE4.  The ingots would have been broken into fragments for trading and transporting during the Late Bronze Age after their casting process, when the copper alloy was still malleable enough to break (Huisman and Leahy 2018, 45). Ingot fragments of this type are particularly characteristic of the Ewart Park phase of the Late Bronze Age c. 1000-800 BC.

With regards to the blade fragment, similar examples of socketed sickles are found in the Late Bronze Age Hoard from Llyn Fawr published in Savory (1980), fig.46 no.6 and 7. These are dated c. 700-600 BC. A complete example has been recorded on the database: LEIC-B91B4E dating 850-600 BC.

Date: The above references and parallel examples suggest this is a dispersed metal worker’s hoard dating to the late Bronze Age Ewart Park/Llyn Fawr phase c. 850-600 BC.