Casgliadau Arlein

A complete axe head with burred poll, pointed lugs above and below the hafting eye, and a blade which flares to the cutting edge.

A sturdy axe of this type would have been used to fell trees and to cut and split trunks in the manner shown in the Bayeux Tapestry (Stenton, 1957, 109, Pl38). The lugs enable the handle to be securely hafted and the thickenned butt aksi nade the axehead steadier to handle and easier to direct. The burring of the poll shows that the axe had also been used as a hammer, probably driving splitting wedges into a log.

The distinctive pointed lugs are typical of axes of the 10th to 12th centuries.

C2 Site A Grubenhaus fill 10th Century