Casgliadau Arlein

One of Hoard of three bronze palstaves of Transitional Type, Type Shelf, Midribbed Variant of Middle Bronze Age date (1300-1150 BC). Transitional palstaves are relatively uncommon in Wales in relation to more common palstave forms.

This is a near-complete bronze palstave, with corroded surfaces and a heavily damaged blade, flanges and butt-end. The palstave has a slender outline, widening slightly from the butt end towards the stop, with a slightly waisted body across the position of the stop. The blade sides are straight and moderately divergent, leading towards a slightly expanded blade end. The original blade edge is absent, with a small diagonal break along one blade corner and a large fragment missing from the opposing side, giving angular and asymmetric breaks towards the blade end. The butt end heavily damaged, but appears to have once been narrow and would have been near-straight or slightly curved. The flanges are damaged across the entirety of their lengths, but are straight and gradually rise from just below the butt end towards the position of the stop. On one face, the flanges are heavily damaged and have been almost entirely removed down one side. The stop is prominent and appears slightly curved in plan-view, projecting above the flanges and at a right angle to the septum before steeply sloping onto the upper faces of the blade. Both stop ridges are damaged across their upper edge. The side-loop is of modest thickness, one arm above and one below the position of the stop. The blade faces are decorated with a single central midrib in the form of a rounded swelling, though this is largely obscured by corrosion damage on one face. On the better surviving face, the midrib extends down approximately half of the length of the blade. The remains of a casting seam are visible down one side, appearing as a prominent and thin ridge along the septum and the side-loop. No signs of use wear (e.g., striations, hammer marks) are visible across the original surfaces. Patches of original surface survive on both faces, mainly along the septum, and have a brown patina. The surfaces of this palstave are heavily corroded. Large areas of positive corrosion product are visible along the upper and lower body, whilst numerous shallow pits of various sizes are visible across the majority of the surfaces.