SOCKETED AXEHEAD

Earliest Iron Age bronze socketed axe of Type Sompting, Tower Hill variant, dating to the Llyn Fawr metalworking assemblage (c. 800-600 BC) (O’Connor 2007).

This is a virtually complete socketed axe, with a relatively short and slender body. The sides of the axe are moderately concave, leading towards a well expanded blade edge which has a shallow curve. The mouth is sub-rectangular shaped in plan, appearing at its deepest front-to-back. The axe has a double mouth moulding, the uppermost of which is the most prominent and positioned approximately 8.0mm from the mouth socket. The lower mouth moulding is shallower and is only discernible on one face. The side-loop is highly eroded and springs from below the lower moulding. The casting seams are visible down both sides, appearing as slightly raised blunt ridges, suggesting hammering after the axe was cast. The blade was worked and the cutting edge survives well, with possible hammer marks along the lower blade, visible as slight indentations on one face. There are numerous scratches and finer striations visible across the surface of the axe, which are probably the result of post-depositional processes. There is a short notch visible along the cutting edge which is soil covered, suggesting the damage occurred prior to recent discovery and retrieval from the ground.

The surface of the axe is worn, with a dull grey-green blade and a brown upper body. A small section of original surface survives within the loop, which has a dark brown patina.

The combination of features displayed on this axe mean that it may be identified as a Type Sompting, with a variety of sub-types, largely dependent on the decoration. This particular axe may be further identified as a Tower Hill variant, based on its relatively broad blade, deep front-to-back mouth, narrow body below the mouth mouldings, and absence of decoration (Boughton 2015, 111). With an overall length less than 110mm and a weight below 300g, this particular axe is a small example from the otherwise large and heavy Sompting axes (Boughton 2015, 109). A small Tower Hill variant was also found associated with the Earliest Iron Age midden at Llanmaes, Vale of Glamorgan, but these smaller examples are otherwise rare (Gwilt et al. 2016, 311-12, Fig. 10.10.6).

Dimensions: length 94.1mm; width of blade 50.9mm; width below loop 24.4mm; external socket dimensions 30.9mm (side to side) by 33.6mm (front to back); internal socket dimensions 22.8mm (side to side) by 27.5mm (front to back); depth of socket approx. 66.0mm; weight 220.6g

References

Boughton, D. 2015. The Early Iron Age socketed axes in Britain. Unpublished PhD thesis (University of Central Lancashire).

Gwilt, A., M. Lodwick, J. Deacon, N. Wells, R. Madgwick and T. Young 2016. ‘Ephemeral Abundance at Llanmaes: Exploring the residues and resonances of an Earliest Iron Age midden and its associated archaeological context in the Vale of Glamorgan’, in J.T. Koch and B. Cunliffe (eds) Celtic from the West 3: Atlantic Europe in the Metal Ages: Questions of Shared Language: 293–332. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 294-328.

O’Connor, B. 2007. ‘Llyn Fawr Metalwork in Britain: a review’, in: Pope R. & Haselgrove, C. The earlier Iron Age in Britain and the Near Continent. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 64-79.