Bronze Age Gold from Wales

Large whetstone of square cross section recessed at one end for a copper alloy ferrule, fastened to the stone with a single transverse rivet. The ferrule takes the form of a helmet with nose guard which appears on all four sides of the whetstone. The nose guard is decorated with ring and dot decoration and punch lines, the ferrule appears to have a silvered finish and there may be a significant quantity of silver in the alloy. The whetstone is a fine grained sandstone worn smooth on all four sides but with no evidence of heavy sharpening. It seems likely that such a fine whetstone was used for specialised sharpening of weapons.

A whetstone for sharpening fine blades, 850-950 CE.

WA_SC 14.2