METAL WORKING DEBRIS

The fragment of late Bronze Age metalwork reported here is the second find of such metalwork to have been made after the initial discovery of the dispersed hoard from High Laver. The treasure number for this fragment is 2010.T36. For convenience, the text of the original report on this High Laver hoard is given in the appendix below. It has further details of the hoard, including a bibliography.

Description and Condition The fragment weighs 12.02 grammes and is a flat plate measuring 37.8 millimetres by 21.2 millimetres. It is 2.7 millimetres thick, rising to 3.4 millimetres at the single straight rib on one of the surfaces. None of the original edge is present. Its existing edges are rounded from corrosion and the surface bears every indication (light scratches, abrasion of the patina) that the item had been circulating in the soil for some time.

Identification and Date

Items like this are described here as plate scrap, although we have no real clues as to the correct identification. Plate scrap of this kind is a component of Wilburton period hoards from Britain and the mainland of Europe (Burgess 1969, 37), although it is never common. There were sixteen fragments in the County Roscommon (Republic of Ireland) hoard but as the hoard is unique for Ireland there is a possibility that it might be a modern import from overseas (Eogan 1983, 49, 325 nos 20-21). The Syon Reach (London) hoard had seventeen fragments (Needham and Burgess 1980, 443, 445; Needham 1987, 120, fig.5.15 nos 4-18; Cotton and Green 2005, fig.12 nos 4-18 & 31). The largest single cache of this scrap plate known to the writer comes from the Essex hoard of Broxted I (Treasure Number 2008.T589) where thirty-one fragments were present.

The Relationship of the Plate Scrap with the Dispersed Hoard Late Bronze Age metalwork of Wilburton type - including plate scrap of the kind we have here - is dated c. 1120-1040 BC. (Needham et al. 1998, 82, 90). Material from the High Laver I hoard already reported included artefacts of the c. 1040-800 BC Ewart Park phase of the late Bronze Age. Clearly the scrap plate is earlier than the other material, but (assuming it was not a stray find unconnected with the hoard) Bronze Age hoards often have material with disparate dates and it must remain a distinct possibility that this scrap is part of the original hoard, particularly as such plate is only otherwise known from hoards. On balance, it would be justified to treat the find as potential treasure and as part of the late Bronze Age hoard from Little Laver.

Dr Paul R. Sealey, F.S.A.