Bronze Age Gold from Wales

Late Bronze Age socketed spearhead

A hollow-bladed, pegged (rivetted) spearhead, the edge of the blade being hollow-ground.

Leaded bronze spearhead, 1050-890 BCE.

This spearhead is 3,000 years old. It shows the finest casting techniques of its time. For the first time, lead was added to the bronze alloy so that the molten metal flowed more easily. This allowed the bronzesmiths to make hollow-bladed spearheads like this. It was discovered in Guilsfield near Welshpool in 1862 and was part of a Late Bronze Age weapon hoard of over 120 objects.

SC5.5

Collection Area

Archaeology & Numismatics

Item Number

31.62/15

Find Information

Site Name: Crowther's Camp, Guilsfield

Date: 1862

Notes: Found during the digging of a field drain, packed tight as though originally deposited in a perishable container, on the south-east side of Rhuallt, 100m from Crowther's Camp, an Early Iron Age hillfort, near Guilsfield.

Measurements

maximum length / mm:244.0
length / mm
maximum width / mm:48.5
width / mm
diameter / mm:26.0 (of socket)
weight / g:259.0

Material

copper alloy

Location

St Fagans Gweithdy gallery : Bronze Age Weapons

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