SPEARHEAD

An incomplete cast copper-alloy socketed spearhead dating to the Middle Bronze Age, c. 1550-1250 BC. This example is of Davis' Group 6-'Developed side looped spearheads', probably belonging to the Acton Park or Taunton metalworking phases. The base of the socket is missing along with the edge of one blade wing, but otherwise the spearhead is preserved intact. The socket itself is circular sectioned and extends into the head of the spear for a short distance before becoming solid, retaining most of one socket-loop at its irregularly truncated end. The latter has a broadly lozengiform loop-plate that is now squashed flat against the main portion of the socket, its lower section and partner on the opposing side both missing. Flanking the tapering socket as it extends into the blade are the blade wings, broadly triangular in section (as stated, most of one broken away) with a single bevel on each edge. These taper inwards along their length, converging at the apex of the spearhead with the now solid-sectioned socket rib to form a somewhat blunted point. Preserved in fair condition with some evidence of recent damage on one face, it survives to a maximum length of 103.16mm, c. 15.3mm in diameter at the base of the socket above the surviving loop, 14.2mm in diameter directly below the blade-wings, c. 9.16mm thick at its midpoint (on the central rib) by 23.17mm wide, c. 2.99mm thick at the midpoint of the surviving blade wing, and weighs 52.58g. The socket survives to a depth of c. 51mm.

As discussed in his datasheet, Davis notes that group 6 is the most numerous of all EBA/MBA spearhead types, consisting 48% of the known corpus. The distribution of EBA and MBA spearheads as a whole covers most of Britain, with particularly high concentrations in Western East Anglia, the Thames Valley and the Trent Valley. Spearheads with sockets extending into the blade and side-loops above the base of the socket generally tend to be dated c. 1550-1250 BC (Davis 2017, 1-2).

Reference: Davis, R (2017) Later Prehistoric Finds Group No. 5: A Short Guide to Early and Middle Bronze Age Spearheads. Later Prehistoric Finds Group: online publication