KNIFE

A Middle to Late Bronze Age copper alloy tanged knife dating to the period c. 1300 - 800 BC. The tang is rectangular, with a single circular rivet hole for the attachment of the missing handle. The tang is 10.86mm wide at the end, expanding to 12.85mm at the point at which it meets the blade. The rivet hole measures 4.12mm in diameter. The blade expands sharply outwards from the tang to a width of 18.29mm and then tapers to width of 3.70mm. It is bi-convex in cross-section and has a slight ridge running the length of the blade on both sides. The blade edges have suffered fronm extensive erosion, meaning that details of use-wear are obscured. The tip of the blade is bent and terminates in an old break. It has an uneven brown patina with green corrosion delamination.

Matt Knight (PhD University of Exeter) has commented:

Tanged and riveted knives are common in a variety of forms from the Middle Bronze Age onwards, though local comparisons are scarce, with none recorded from the South West region in the corpuses by Pearce (1983) or Knight et al. (2015). Rowlands (1976, Pl.35) illustrates two shouldered tanged knives with single rivet holes from Southern Britain - one from the River Thames, Berkshire, and another from Horningsea, Cambridgeshire. Rowlands considers tanged and riveted knives as belonging to the later Middle Bronze Age (Penard phase c.1275-1150BC). However, these both possess longer, more rounded tangs than this example, and their blade edges are more clearly defined with stepped bevels. Other comparable examples have been more closely linked with Late Bronze Age material. Examples are present in the Grays Thurrock hoard, Essex (Turner 2010, No.02/134), and the Reach Fen hoard, Cambridgeshire (Smith 1956, GB.17 3(3) No.43), both of which are part of the Carp's Tongue complex in the Ewart Park phase (1000-800BC). The Reach Fen knife in particular bears close resemblance to the Charlton Horethorne example, with a similarly short tang and rounded shoulders, suggesting that perhaps a Ewart Park date might be most appropriate here.

The knife measures 91.84mm in length, 18.29mm maximum width, 3.70mm minimum width, is 2.84mm thick and weighs 14.03g.

Similar examples on the database include: SUR-027FDC & DOR-761B1C.