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Ribbed Socketed Axe - blade fragment (Find No.15)

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 blade end fragment of a copper-alloy ribbed socketed axe. The axe appears to have once had a straight/near straight and parallel/near parallel, leading towards a minimally expanded blade end with a slightly curved cuting edge. The ends of one, possibly two, longitudinal ribs are visible just below the upper break edge on one face. The casting seam is visible down one side as a slightly raised blunt ridge. The axe was cast using a slightly misaligned core, with the socket wall appearing slightly thicker towards one side(7.6mm versus 4.9mm). Fine striations are visible parallel to the blade endge and appear within the patinated surface, suggesting that the axe was sharpened for use in antiquity. The upper break edges are irregular, well eroded and within the patinated surface, suggesting that the axe was broken in antiquity. One corner of the blade is absent, the break edge also appearing well eroded and within the patinated surface, suggesting that this break also occured in antiquity, possibly as a result of use of during the deliberate breaking up of the axe.

The axe has a brown patina. Green sub-surfaces are visible along the surviving blade tip and across small sections of the upper break edge. The surface of the axe has been damaged in some places, with lighter and rougher sub-surfaces exposed in short sections across the lower blade.