SPEARHEAD

This object has the appearance of a Bronze Age spearhead. It has a number of unusual attributes:- 1. The blade had a very low, wide base. I have identified a group of British pegged spearheads as "Wide blade base", but none exactly match this one. There are a number of side looped, ogival bladed spearheads from the MBA with a blade base like this. There are also some Dutch pegged spearheads from the MBA/LBA with a similar wide blade base. 2. Overall length at 69 mm is very short. I have recorded only 12 LBA spearheads with a length shorter than this. 3. Socket mouth opening is extremely narrow at 5 mm. I have not come across any spearheads with such a narrow opening. 4. Depth of socket aperture at roughly half the socket length below the blade is not matched elsewhere. The shortest is up to the blade/socket junction. However, it is possible that the socket is blocked by debris which is a relatively common occurrence. This can be checked by a probe. Some replicas of BA spearheads, made in the modern era, have a drilled socket aperture that is of this length, as compared to the BA technology of casting the socket aperture in the mould. 5. Socket narrows as it approaches the blade base. There is an LBA group of 31 spearheads with this attribute. 6. No pegholes or loops on the socket. This is a rare occurrence, but has been found in a few MBA and LBA British spearheads. 7. The rounded/blunt tip is a relatively common attribute in British MBA and LBA spearheads. From the photograph, the condition of the metal appears consistent with deposition in the BA, but inspection of the actual object may give greater clarification. The key attribute that gives a problem in identification is the narrowness of the socket mouth opening. It would not hold a wooden shaft strong enough for normal use as a spearhead. I suppose it could function as a throwing spear, but there are no such parallels in Britain. I do not know much about bronze arrowheads: they are very rare in Britain, and the ones that I have seen are tanged. One explanation may be that it is a miniature for ritual use. The unsharpened blade and rounded tip support this. I have seen axeheads that are miniature versions of regular axehead types, and they are interpreted as being used in ritual deposition. There is a miniature flat axe from King's Bromley, Staffs, that is 68 mm in length.