Rights Holder: Somerset County Council
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Unique ID: SOM-649A51
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Published
An incomplete cast copper alloy Middle Bronze Age basal loop spearhead, broken into two pieces. The blade is 'flame' shaped with low blade ribs. The loops are incorporated into the curved base and the loop plates squeezed inwards slightly. One loop is slightly misformed. The midrib section is lozenge shaped and then the stem circular in section. The socket is slightly splayed towards the end. The object remains in very good condition generally and is finely worked. The point of maximum width is approx. 27% up the blade, making this a Davis type 2, which was the largest group in his corpus (Davis 2006, p.33). There is a lot of variation within this group, but this particular example appears to fit best into Davis' variant C, which is characterised by 'loop plates squeezed inwards, causing an indentation in the arc of the blade edge from socket to tip' (ibid. p.34). The development of these Davis (2006, p.48) traces back 'to the British side-looped series, Group 2, whose blade shapes are replicated in many of the Type 3 spearheads' (ibid. p.49). He also suggests that another source may be 'the Irish Class III kite-shaped spearhead and their equivalent in the basal-looped Type 1 variant B' (ibid.). Through his review of the dating evidence Davis (ibid. p.49) concluded that, like Type 3, it can be suggested that Type 2 spearheads 'originated in the Acton park phase, and had its main period of use in the Taunton phase' (ibid. p.50), so around c.1500-1250BC. However, there is also a limited amount of evidence to suggest that a few spearheads were in use beyond this period into the late Bronze Age, perhaps passed down from generation to generation as heirlooms (ibid.). Helena Jaeschke provided the following conservation information: Parallel scratch marks that appear to be the result of working can still be seen in several places. The head and stem are certainly from the same spearhead, despite slight differences in patina and levels of erosion. This is probably due instead to slightly varied environmental conditions within the area in which the object was deposited. Certainly, evidence for two different soil types can be seen on the spear, one a light yellow-brown clay and the other a micaceous red-brown soil. Evidence of polishing may be seen on the minute raised ridges formed during the object's production. This happened either before deposition or after the object was removed from the ground, but is unlikely to have occurred whilst it was buried. A fragment of something (possibly charcoal) may be seen within the soil that remains inside the hollow interior of the stem. 'Oyster shell' corrosion can be seen in a few places on both halves, forming small, raised, oyster shell-like patches. This is sometimes evidence of a high lead content within metallic objects and is common on Roman finds, but much more unusual on earlier finds such as this one. The bluish deposit is azurite (a hydrated form of copper carbonate). It appears to be restricted to the surface of the object, and has not formed within the break between the two halves, suggesting on the one hand that it probably formed whilst the object was in the ground and is not the result of any action following the its recovery, and also that the two halves must have sat closely together. The deposit appears to have formed fairly recently in the object's history. Blade: Length:150.82mm (midpoint at 42.22mm from base of blade), Width: 45.48mm, Thickness: 17.66 Weight: 145.34g Stem: Length: 83.09mm, Width: 22.68 Weight: 79.34g
Notes:
Report prepared with help from Ben Roberts and conservation advice from Helena Jaeschka.
This has been noted as an interesting find by the recorder.
Class:
Basal-looped
Sub class: Davis (2012) Group 8, Davis (2006) Type 2, variant C
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Broad period: BRONZE AGE
Subperiod from: Middle
Period from: BRONZE AGE
Period to: BRONZE AGE
Date from: Circa 1500 BC
Date to: Circa 1250 BC
Quantity: 1
Date(s) of discovery: Monday 2nd March 2009
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Other reference: Entry 020423
Primary material: Copper alloy
Manufacture method: Cast
Completeness: Incomplete
Grid reference source: From finder
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 100 metre square.
Author | Publication Year | Title | Publication Place | Publisher | Pages | Reference | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Davis, R. | 2006 | Basal-Looped Spearheads: Typology, chronology, context and use | Oxford | BAR | 33-34, 49-50 |