PALSTAVE

An incomplete cast copper-alloy primary (early) Palstave axehead dating to the Middle Bronze Age. The axehead belongs to Group I: shield-patterened types, and probably belongs to the Acton Park II or Taunton metalworking assemblages (Burgess' stages VIII and IX), dating c. 1500-1300 BC. Part of the blade is missing, though otherwise the axehead is preserved intact. It is broadly rectangular in plan, with a straight-sided rectangular butt demonstrating an 'H' shaped cross section, recessed septum and incomplete fan-shaped blade. It is lenticular in profile, with the thickest portion of the axe consisting the high-sided shoulder flanges where they fuse with the transverse stop-ridge at the midpoint of the axe. Directly below the stop ridge on each side is a thumb-shaped decorative depression, below which the blade co-incidently tapers and flattens along its length towards the now largely corroded away cutting edge. On the sides of the axe, the casting seams appear to have been removed entirely via means of secondary working, though they are also incredibly pitted. This object was originally broken along the butt just prior to the emergence of the shoulder flanges in an act of deliberate destruction (presumably prior to deposition) but has now been re-attached by the finder.

Preserved in somewhat corroded condition with an uneven greenish patina demonstrating considerable pitting and little of the original surface remaining, it measures 117.27mm in total length, 19.45mm wide at the butt, 22.41mm wide by 23.49mm thick at the stop ridge, and the blade a maximum of 55.94mm wide. It weighs 216g.