Casgliadau Arlein

Ribbed Socketed Axe blade and lower body fragment, possibly South Wales Type / Variant (Find No.18)

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 and lower body fragment of a copper-alloy ribbed socketed axe. The sides appear to have once been near-straight and slightly divergent, leading towards a slightly expanded blade -end and a near-straight cutting edge. The axe has a hexagonal cross-section. The remains of three converging longitudinal ribs are visible. The ribs are discontinuous,, suggesting the use of old mould-pieces for the casting of the aze. The casting seam survives down one side, visible as a slightly raised blunt ridge, indicating rapid hammering after the axe was cast. The blade edge survives well; towards one blade tip, a short section (c.21.0mm) of the blade edge is damaged, the break edges appearing well eroded and within the patinated surface, suggesting damage caused during antiquity, possibly as a result of use. Small, ovoid shaped impact marks are faintly visible along the upper blade, likely caused by when the blade end was hammered and prepared for use. Additional striations and deeper scratches can be seen across both faces, some of which have broken through hte patina and are more likely to have been caused whilst the object was still buried. On one face the ribs appear to have been flattened and there is a slight convexity to the face of the axe, just below the break edge, suggesting that the axe was struck repeatedly with a blunt ended tool, likely to facilitate the breaking of the axe in antiquity. Sections of the upper break edge still retain some angularities and there are short sections of core-metal exposed, suggesting that at least some damage was caused more recently, possibly whilst the object was still buried or during its recent discovery and retrieval.

The fragment has a dark grey-brown patina, with a silvery tint along the edges which, combined with the relatively heavy weight, perhaps suggests a high lead content. One face and side is more eroded, with lighter brown sub-surfaces visible in small sections.