HAMMER

An incomplete copper alloy socketed hammer of Bronze Age date. The hammer is a sub-rectangular and hollow, narrowing to the socketed end. The mouth of the socket is broken and worn and the butt end is slightly curved. The surface of the hammer is undecorated and the corners are angular with no signs of bevelling. No visible casting flashes remain.

The metal has a mid-greenish-brown patina with pitting revealing a lighter green alloy. The hammer is 58.8mm long; 25mm x 15.3mm at the butt end; 19.6mm x 18.4mm at the socketed end; the walls are 4.5mm thick; the socket is 40.4mm deep. The object weighs. 83g.

Socketed hammers are a rare find, especially when compared to socketed axeheads, and there are currently only 37 recorded examples on the PAS database, 6 of which were found in Yorkshire. Similar hammers have been recorded as SF-40FAAD, FAKL-9C9543, LVPL-5A7954, SWYOR-D13642 and YORYM-ABCCE1. The latter record discusses the dating of socketed hammers stating that 'early examples tend to be plain with no collar, whereas later examples have collars and moulding'. SF-40FAAD also states that 'hammers were in use in Britain during the Taunton metalwork phase of the MBA, with slender hammers appearing in both the Taunton and Bishopsland hoards and a massive hammer in the Burgess's Meadow, Oxford hoard' (O'Connor 1980, vol.1, 61). However, they only became common in LBA hoards. As such Rowlands (1976, 45) states that 'it would be unwise to date stray finds to the MBA'."