Casgliadau Arlein

Plain Socketed Axe with Type Portree affinities - mouth and non-loop side fragment (Find No. 8/5)

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 upper body fragment of a copper-alloy plain socketed axe. The sides of the axe appear to have once been nearly straight and divergent. The mouth is flared in profile, degined by a relatively deep onset collar (12.4mm in depth). A narrow and slightly raised ridge is visible along the surviving fave edge, originating approximately halfway down the surviving face. In profile, the face of the axe is bent outwards and there are no associated impact marks visible. The majority of the break edges are soil covered and eroded, suggesting that the eaxe was broken in antiquity. Sections of green sub-surface and core metal exposed down the length of one break edge, indicating more recent damage, possible caused while the objects was still buried or during its recent discovery and retrieval from the ground.

The fragment has a dark grey-green patina.