Late Bronze Age bronze socketed axe - Collections Online | Museum Wales
This site uses cookies to improve your experience. View our Cookie Policy
Preferences

Cookie Preferences

Essential

These cookies are absolutely essential for our website to function properly.

 

Cookies that measure website use

We use Google Analytics to measure how you use the website so we can improve it based on user needs.

 

Cookies that help with communications and marketing

These cookies may be set by third party websites and do things like measure how you view YouTube videos.

 
 
View our Cookie Policy
Locations +
Amgueddfa Cymru
Cymraeg
My account
Collections & Research
Departments Collections Online National Collections Centre

Amgueddfa
Cymru
Family

National Museum Cardiff

St Fagans National Museum of History

National Waterfront Museum

Big Pit National Coal Museum

National Slate Museum

National Wool Museum

National Roman Legion Museum

  • Collections & Research
  • Departments
  • Collections Online
  • National Collections Centre
  • Articles
  • Ancient Wales
  • Art
  • Celf ar y Cyd
  • History
  • Natural History
  • The Museum at Work
  • Health, Wellbeing and Amgueddfa Cymru

Collections Online

Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales

Advanced Search

Advanced Search

Image filter options
Back to search results

Late Bronze Age bronze socketed axe

South Wales Variant type socketed axe. This is a near complete socketed axe with a damaged mouth. This is a large socketed axe with an angular hexagonal cross-section, with slightly divergent and concave shaped sides. The axe has a prominent but narrow mouth moulding, with a high placed and narrow loop descending from its underside. Three very prominent and wide ribs descend from the moulding on each face and are convergent. Unusually, the central rib is significantly longer than the two lateral ribs, the former extending down three-quarters of the length of the face and the latter only extending half the length of the blade. The face edges are angled and significantly narrower than the sides and the edges have been deliberately raised, giving the overall effect similar to a faceted axe. The axe has a deep front back mouth axis, the mouth being square in external outline and with a sub-rectangular internal aperture, with curved edges. One half of the mouth top has been broken, the break looking fresh in places, suggesting breakage during removal from the ground. Two runner-stubs are visible around the mouth, located at 180 degrees to each other, but there is insufficient of the mouth surviving to tell whether or not there were originally four runners. The sides of the axe are significantly angled, coming to their widest point at the central casting seam. While the join is prominent and angled, there is little excess and it appears that the flashes may have been hammered flat in places. There are linear striations along the blade facets and parallel with the blade edge, indicating that the axe was sharpened for use. Most of the original surfaces have survived and the axe has a grey-green patina. The mouth edges and blade edge are eroded, with light green and fragile powdery surfaces. There are also small patches of eroded lighter green surface on the faces and external loop edge. The casting seams down the sides of the axe are visible, but were hammered or filed down carefully after casting.

Late Bronze Age bronze socketed axe
Image: By permission of Amgueddfa Cymru — Museum Wales
  Zoom / More Images (5)

Collection Area

Archaeology & Numismatics

Item Number

2017.24H/3

Find Information

Site Name: Llanharan, Rhondda Cynon Taff

Collection Method: metal detector
Date: 2015 / Apr

Notes: Found while metal detecting on farm land under pasture. The axes were found scattered within an areas of approximately 4m2 and a depths of 15-25cm beneath the ground surface. Probably disturbed during recent agricultural activity.

Measurements

length / mm:115.7
maximum width / mm:55.3
width / mm
weight / g:376.7

Categories

Ewart Park
Comments are currently unavailable. We apologise for the inconvenience.

Related Items

Archaeology & Numismatics

Bronze Age flat axe

82.45H
More information
Archaeology & Numismatics

Early Bronze Age bronze dagger

77.9H
More information
Archaeology & Numismatics

Bronze Age bronze axe

47.409/51
More information
Archaeology & Numismatics

Bronze Age bronze axe

47.409/53
More information

Site Map

Amgueddfa Cymru

Amgueddfa Cymru

  • Visiting
  • Collections & Research
  • Learn
  • Blog
  • Support Us
  • Shop
  • Venue Hire

Our Museums

  • National Museum Cardiff
  • St Fagans National Museum of History
  • National Waterfront Museum
  • Big Pit National Coal Museum
  • National Slate Museum
  • National Wool Museum
  • National Roman Legion Museum

Connect With Us

  • Contact Us
  • Get Involved
  • Join the Mailing List
  • Facebook
  • Instagram

Corporate

  • About Us
  • Jobs
  • Press Office
  • Picture Library
  • National Collections Centre
  • Working with Others
  • Accessibility statement
  • Cookies
  • Copyright
Sponsored by Welsh Government
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
Charity No. 525774
× ❮ ❯