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SPEARHEAD
Unique ID: NMGW3282
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Published 
Cast copper alloy side-looped spearhead with a leaf-shaped blade and lozenge-shaped midrib. The mouth of the socket, the edges and end of the blade and much of the original surface of the spearhead are missing. The side loops on the socket are also missing; however, their original position, approximately midway along the incomplete socket, is indicated by the surviving stubs of the loops (set c.8-9mm apart). The socket continues for a short way into the blade. There is no evidence to suggest that the spearhead was originally decorated. Surviving length 76mm, surviving length of blade 41mm, maximum surviving external diameter of socket 13.5mm, maximum surviving width of blade 13mm, maximum thickness of midrib 8mm. This is an example of Ehrenberg's Class IV spearhead (cf. Ehrenberg 1977, 7-9) and Davis' Class 6 Unclassified (Davis 2012, 106, No.648, Pl.37).
Notes:
A small example of a Class IV side-looped/Class 6 Unclassified Developed Side-looped Bronze Age spearhead. It is interesting to note that the spearhead blade lodged in the vertebra of one of the two inhumed individuals excavated at Tormarton, Gloucestershire was also a small example of a side-looped spearhead. In her study of the spearheads from Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, Ehrenberg noted that examples of the type from her study area ranged in length from 90mm to 210mm (1997,7); when complete the St Nicholas spearhead's length probably fell within the lower part of that range. Side-looped spearheads are a Middle Bronze Age type whose main vogue can be dated to the Acton Park and Taunton metalwork phases (c.1500 BC to c.1250 BC) although later examples are known (Davis 2012, 108-110; Needham et al. 1997, 84-86).
Class: Side-looped
Subsequent actions
Current location of find: Private
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Chronology
Broad period: BRONZE AGE
Subperiod from: Middle
Period from: BRONZE AGE
Subperiod to: Middle
Period to: BRONZE AGE
Date from: Circa 1500 BC
Date to: Circa 1275 BC
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Length: 76 mm
Width: 13 mm
Thickness: 8 mm
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Thursday 1st February 2001
Personal details
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Other reference numbers
Other reference: NMGWPA: 2001.12.1
Materials and construction
Primary material: Copper alloy
Manufacture method: Cast
Completeness: Incomplete
Spatial metadata
Region: Wales (European Region)County or Unitary authority: the Vale of Glamorgan (Unitary Authority)
District: the Vale of Glamorgan (Unitary Authority)
Parish or ward: St. Nicholas and Bonvilston (Community)
Spatial coordinates
4 Figure: ST0974
Four figure Latitude: 51.45763714
Four figure longitude: -3.31116217
1:25K map: ST0974
1:10K map: ST07SE
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 10 metre square.
References cited
| Author | Publication Year | Title | Publication Place | Publisher | Pages | Reference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Davis, R. | 2012 | The Early and Middle Bronze Age Spearheads of Britain | Stuttgart | Franz Steiner Verlag | |||
| Ehrenberg, M.R. | 1977 | Bronze Age Spearheads from Berks, Bucks and Oxon | Oxford | British Archaeological Reports 34 | |||
| Needham, S.P., Bronk, C., Coombs, D., Cartwright, C.R. and Pettitt, P. | 1997 | An independent chronology for British Bronze Age metalwork: the results of the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Programme |
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Timeline of associated dates
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