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Ribbed Socketed Axe - lower body and side fragment (Find No.8/4)

Part of a hoard of 39 bronze fragments representing a minimum of 38 artefacts discovered in a field following agricultural drainage work. All of the artefacts were reported as being discovered within an area of 2.4m (8 feet) of each other, of each other and at approximate depths of 20-30cm (8-12 inches).

The patination of the objects is consistent with them having been buried in a peaty peaty deposit, which has been known to result in a brown or black patina (Fontijn 2002,40). The hoard findspot was near small watercourse. A search of the Historic Environment Record (www.archwilio.org.uk) revealed no Bronze Age features of sites in the adjacent fields.

Detailed Description; This is a lower body and partial side fragment of a copper-alloy ribbed socketed axe. The axe appears to have once had straight and parallel/near-parallel sides, with a rectangular or possibly hexagonal cross-section. The ends of two promintent and parallel longitudinal ribes are visible across the surviving face. A casting seam is visible down the surviving side segment as a slightly raised blunt ridge. The break eges are irregular and appear within the patinated surface, suggesting that the axe was broken in antiquity. The absence of evidence for impact marks or deformation of the socket walls suggests that the axe was heated to a sufficient temperature prior to breaking, resutling in minimal effort required to fragment the axe.

The axe has a dark grey-brown patina. Original surfaces are well preserved.