Casgliadau Arlein

South Wales Variatn Type socketed axe. A near complete slender axe, with one face heavily damaged and missing original surfaces and unstable and heavily eroded blade edge and mouth. The axe has a prominent mouth moulding, from which a narrow loop descends. Three parallel ribs descend from the mouth moulding on each face, continuing down four-fifths of the remaining length of the blade, almost to the blade facet. The ribs are prominent but discontinuous, suggesting the mould pieces used to cast the axe were old. The face edges have also been raised, to give the effect of a five ribbed axe. The axe is rectangular in section, but slender, the sides of the axe parallel down to the damaged blade edge. The mouth is rectangular in shape and heavily eroded, making runner stubs difficult to discern, however one raised area, opposite the loop side, suggests a runner stub. The socket is misaligned with the exterior of the axe, with a small hole on one lower blade face indicating a differential thinning in wall thickness in places. The casting seams down both sides are prominent, but slightly blunted by hammering and the excess flashing within the loop was never trimmed, perhaps hinting that the axe may never have been used before being buried. Original surfaces have a green-brown patina, while eroded surfaces are light green, unstable and powdery. The axe is in poor state, showing laminating and cracking of original surfaces remaining. On the interior surface of the socket, there is an area of blue corrosion surface.