Casgliadau Arlein

Early Bronze Age bronze axe, probably a developed flat axe of Type Glenalla of Assemblage IV, corresponding with Needham’s (1996) Period 3, dated to 2050 – 1700 BC, The axe is near-complete, with some peripheral damage and is comparatively massive (with a length of 175mm and a weight of 611.6g). The butt is damaged on one side and appears to be moderately straight with some curvature (with a width of 28.4mm). The sides of the axe are fairly straight and diverge gradually to a point before the thickest part of the axe (with a maximum thickness of 13.3mm, positioned 95mm from the butt). The sides are then concave and diverge sharply to produce a wide and comparatively shallow blade edge (with a width of 109.6mm). The original blade edge has been lost. The faces appear to have a weak median bevel, now largely lost because of surface loss. Both faces are flat across their widths, with no flanges, and are convex across their lengths. The original surface has largely been lost and remnant traces have a dark green to brown patina. Elsewhere the axe is pale to mid green. The comparatively small amounts of impurities (less than 0.1%) would suggest a metal of Northover’s (1980) C Group which in predominately found in north east Wales and of metalwork Assemblages III – IV.

The typological identification of the axe is somewhat unsure because of a lack of discernible ‘developed’ attributes on the axe; the loss of the original surface makes the identification of a weak median bevel uncertain. The axe may be seen as sharing similarities attributes with Migdale type flat axes and it is possible that the axe may date to the end of the flat axe series and start of the developed axes, corresponding with first part of Needham’s (1996) Period 3, c. 2050 – 1800BC