Casgliadau Arlein

South Wales Type Socketed Axe - mouth and side-loop fragment (Find no.8/1)

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 mouth and side-loop fragment of a copper-alloy ribbed socketed axe. Enough of the mouth survives to indicate that the axe had a pronounced and narrow mouth moudling, from which a slender side-loop descends from. The remains of a single longitudinal rib are visible, descending down the face setion. The casting seam is visible as a slightly raised and flattened ridge. The remains of the casting flash, now blunted, is visible around the outer rim of the mouth. The break edges appear within the patinated surface and are well eroded, suggesting that the axe was broken in antiquity.

The fragment has a brown patina. Light green sub-surfaces are visible in short sections along the mouth, side-loop and break edges.