FLAT AXEHEAD

A possible Bronze Age copper alloy developed flat axe, possibly from the Migdale type and dating c.2200-2000BC.

The object is trapezoidal in plan with a splayed crescent-shaped blade. In profile it is broadly lentoid, with slight tapering edges, and in section, at the broken butt end, it is rectangular. A large fragment of the curved blade is missing probably due to plough damage while the cutting edge is chipped and abraded. The cutting edge measures 44.80mm in width and is 2.44mm thick.

The object has been cut in recent times 47.44mm above the cutting edge. The cut or break is regular with a rough surface. Each edge of the cut is olive green in colour with the centre of the cut displaying a bright greenish blue in an oval yet patchy form. The axehead measures 29.84mm in width and is 7.69mm thick at the break.

Each face of the object is undecorated with a smooth greenish brown patina. Patches of pitting due to corrosion are visible around the cutting edge and long edge of the axehead.

Even though it is incomplete, the remains of this flat axe compares well to other examples from the Migdale tradition of the early Bronze Age, dating from c.2200-2000BC.

Pearce (1983) illustrates a similar example of a slender Migdale type flat axe on page 400, Plate 1, No.6, from Tregonjeeves Quarry in Cornwall, and broad Migdale type flat axes from Harlyn Bay, Cornwall and Hemyock and Kentisbeare in Devon, on pages 418, 443 & 446, Plates 12, 31 & 33, Nos.98c, 243 & 259, which are associated with the Migdale metalworking tradition of the Early Bronze Age, c.2200-2000 BC.

These axes all fit within the earliest phases of metal working in Britain, metalworking stage II, which corresponds to Needham's (1996) Period 2 (c.2350-2050 cal BC). This means that they are dated, broadly, to the same period as Beaker pottery, barbed and tanged flint arrowheads, copper halberds and gold lunulae.