File:10 spearhead (FindID 63115).jpg

English: Early Anglo-Saxon iron spearhead.

           The original edge of the blade on both sides has almost completely corroded away and only a small fragment remains on one side, 40mm from the tip and only 9mm long).  Nevertheless, it suggests that it would have been straight-bladed towards the top of the blade (possibly originally 33mm wide at the point which is 40mm down from the tip) before widening out in a concave curve at the bottom to a maximum of 52mm wide.  The blade then tapers inwards again in a shapely concave arch towards the neck. The neck is solid and circular in cross-section, 10.5 to 13.5mm in diameter, widening outwards away from the head.  The socket is fragmentary, with about half of its circumference surviving; the metal is 2mm in length and 1.8 to 2.3mm thick.  It is expected that the socket would have been split but the socket is very heavily damaged and any split is missing. 

                

                The spearhead is corrugated, which means that the left and right halves of the blade overlap in the centre, resulting in a stepped cross-section.  This increases longitudinal strength, much like a midrib would, but uses less metal and gives a lighter spearhead.  

                

                The spearhead is heavily corroded and none of the original surface is visible; it is partly encrusted with soil, and partly fragmentary. It has an orange-brown surface colour, and is 166mm long, 52mm wide and 19mm thick.

This spearhead is of Swanton’s type L (Swanton 1973, 135-8; Swanton 1974, 20-23) which is thought to date from the later 5th or early 6th century (450-550AD). The distribution of this type in 1973 was concentrated in central southern England.