SOCKETED AXEHEAD

A late Bronze Age, cast copper alloy, socketed axehead decorated with skeuemorphic wings, probably a South Eastern type, probably of the Wilburton to Ewart Park traditions, dating from about 1100 - 750 BC, Needham period 6-7, which corresponds to metalworking stages X-XII.

The axehead is wedge shaped with a sub-circular socket at the haft end that has a double mouth moulding running round it; a prominent bulbous moulding forming the rim (wide and D shaped in section), and a much less well defined lower collar. A lumpy area on the back of this rim may be the remains of a casting jet. The body is rectangular in section, tapering towards the cutting edge where it flares outwards towards the tips of a slightly curved blade. The sides of the axe are slightly hollow where they curve out to the tip of the blade. There is no obvious blade bevel. The blade edge is slightly chipped and measures 50mm in width across the tips.

On one side of the mouth, projecting from the lower collar, is a D shaped attachment loop. It is 11.4mm wide and 25mm long, starting 15mm from the end of the axe. It is a pointed oval in section. Casting flashes remain on both edges of the axe, including the loop. They seem to have been trimmed, but are only smoothed flat near the blade. The axehead has a smooth, dark green patina. The socket was filled with soil when reported. Careful removal of the soil revealed the socket to be 84mm deep, and longitudinal ridges along the inside of the cavity, in the centre of the front and back faces of the axe.

The axe is decorated with faint mouldings on the front and back forming a "moulded wing" design. The front (when viewed with the loop at the top and to the right) has a central rib along the top half of the axe. This is flanked by a curved rib on each side which enclose a recessed shape of a rectangle with concave long sides. The "back" of the axe has a similar moulding, but instead of the central rib is a short chevron near the mouth, inside the curved ribs and pointing towards the cutting edge, and a more clearly defined ridge across the middle of the axe closing the rectangle with concave long edges. The top edge of the rectangle is the lower mouth moulding.

Some axes in Schmidt and Burgess have similar moulded decoration; specifically number 1280, plate 85, from York, 1287 from Heathery Burn, and also 1270 from Westow, East Yorkshire. Similar axes are more common in the South.