CHISEL

An incomplete cast copper-alloy flanged chisel of Middle Bronze Age date.

Description: It has a long rectangular blade original tapering to a curved splayed cutting edge. The blade however is broken bfore this point and is very worn. The butt end is flat and rectangular in form with prominent flanges to either side and transverse stop ridges on both front and back faces. Although this butt end is snapped a short way along the flanges and remains roughly jagged. Beneath the stop ridges the front and back faces have moulded shield-shaped decorative elements shown in counter-relief. No clear casting seam is visible down either side although this maybe due to the haeavy verdi gris corrosion. The one part of the edge visible appears to indicate some level of finishing. The surface of the chisel is heavily pitted in across much of its surface with a heavily verdigris presence. There is also substantial ware and the breaks are ragged.

Measurements: 114.63mm long, 20.72mm wide at the stop ridge, 15.22mm thick (at the flanges, 5.43mm thick at thinnest) and 115.55g in weight.

Discussion: This is a flanged chisel of Middle Bronze Age date. Similar examples are noted by Rowlands (1976: pp. 44-45, form iii, pl. 34 no. 1132), who notes that flanged chisels with shield shaped mouldings have a typological relationship with flanged axes and palstaves and are particularly concentrated in East Anglia ( a number of recent discovereies of palstaves with shield shaped mouldings in Kent may indicate a SW North-Sea zone for these types), as well as northern France. This dates the chisel to the Middle Bronze Age, c.1500-1150 BC. A more complete example from suffolk can be seen at SF-09D1D5.

Peter Reavill, FLO for Shropshire and Herefordshire comments further that "this form of relative rare flanged (palstave-like) chisel are most probably aligned with the middle phase of the Middle Bronze Age (MBA II) c. 1500-1300 BC. The overall form of these chisels is very similar to the early palstaves albeit being much more slender. If this arguement is taken then they are probably contemporary to the primary phase palstaves, Group I which has a shield shaped or trident decoration directly below the fused stop ridge on the upper part of the blade. Theses palstave axe fits best with the Acton Park II and Taunton metalworking assemblages (Needham Period 5) - both assemblages fit within Burgess's Metal Working Stage VIII and IX. Although the construction / casting date fits within this period - it is highly probable that such specific and useful tools had a long life and so their deposition could potentially be many generations after casting (i.e. deposited in the period 1000-800 BC)".