File:2006 T131 Bronze Age hoard, axe no1 (FindID 192411).jpg

English: Treasure case: 2006 T131

Bronze Age Hoard:

Catalogue

1. Socketed axe, South-Eastern. Complete. Slightly flared mouth, single mouth moulding, straight body of rectangular section. Slightly expanded blade edge, no blade tip hollows. Blade edge missing. Much of original surface missing on the lower blade and at patches on the upper blade, moulding and loop. Careful removal of casting sprues. Length 89.8mm; Blade W: 41.3mm Mouth W: 37.1mm Mouth D: 36.2mm W. loop: 10.8mm Weight 160g

2. Socketed axe, South-Eastern, class A1 (Shoebury variant). Complete. Upper moulding rounded and well-defined. The lower moulding is very poorly defined. Square socket with rounded corners, the top of which is hammered flat. Short body with straight sides. Casting sprues largely intact, but removed from the lower blade. Expanded blade edge, poorly-defined blade tip hollows. Blade edge corrosion damaged. Length 81.2mm; blade W: 41.8mm W. mouth: 33.2mm D. mouth: 35.9mm W. loop: 8.3mm Weight 169g.

3. Socketed axe, South-Eastern class A1 (Bilton variant). Complete. Well-defined double mouth moulding. Horizontal break at lower blade. Dark grey even patina, patches of corrosion damage at raised areas and breaks. Length 74.5mm; W. at break: 32.5mm W. mouth: 41.9mm D. mouth: 39.3mm B. loop: 9.2 – 10.3mm Weight 188g

4. Socketed axe, fragment. Very slightly expanded blade, no blade tip hollows. Very narrow blade. Blade edge missing. The fragment has been crushed by blows to both faces close to the break. Casting sprues very carefully removed. Length 54.3mm Blade W: 39.6mm W. at break: 35.5mm D. at break: 13mm Weight 136g.

5. Socketed axe, fragment. Blade end. Slightly expanded blade, poorly-defined blade tip hollows. Blade edge missing and corrosion chipped. Fine horizontal striations close to blade edge. Surface pitted and with traces of hammer rippling. The fragment has been crushed by blows to both faces close to the break. Length 47.2mm; blade width: 37.9mm W: 31.6mm D: 15.2mm Weight 76g.

6. Winged-axe, fragment. The butt and blade are incomplete. The fragment is part of the axe from behind the blade, extending back to where the curved wings spring. Casting sprues carefully removed. Dark green smooth patina, but considerable pocking on one side and hammer rippling on blade. Length 67mm; W: 22-27.5mm Th: 6.9 – 19.6mm Weight 113g

7. Socketed gouge, complete. Blade tip edges missing through corrosion. The furrow tip is 12.2mm wide and the furrow is 59.8mm long. Considerable surface corrosion damage and pocking. Length 90.3mm; Diam.: 14.1 (int) 18.2mm (ext) Weight 58g

8. Socketed gouge. Flat collar at mouth. There is a large removal from one side running from the collar towards the blade end. The furrow tip is 14.6mm wide and the furrow is 67.9mm long. Casting sprues largely intact. Length 90.5mm; Diam. 17.8mm (ext) 14.3mm (int) Weight 52g.

9. Tanged knife. Incomplete, surviving in three joining fragments. The double-edged blade is lentoid in section and there is a sub-circular hole for a rivet on the tang. Length 137.1mm; W. blade: -18.9-28mm W. tang: 18.3mm D. perforation: 3.5 – 4.5mm Th: 1.6 – 2.6mm Weight 42g.

10. Awl, incomplete. The tool is sub-rectangular in section at the centre; both ends have round sections; one is pointed, and the other (shorter) end is blunt. Most of the original surfaces missing. Length 34.9mm; weight 4g Dims. at square centre: 5.1 x 4.4mm D. pointed end: max. 4.1mm

11. Copper ingot, edge fragment. Plano-convex. Thickness: 24.4mm Diameter 13cm; Weight 219g.

12. Copper ingot, edge fragment. Plano-convex. Thickness: 21.4mm Diameter 11cm; Weight 125g.

13. Copper ingot, edge fragment. Plano-convex. Thickness: 31.1mm Diameter 8cm; Weight 134g.

14. Copper ingot, edge fragment. Plano-convex. Thickness: 28.5mm Diameter 12cm; Weight 196g.

15. Copper ingot fragment. Thickness: 28.5mm Weight 305g.

16. Copper ingot fragment. Thickness: 25.7mm Weight 230g.

17. Copper ingot, edge fragment. Plano-convex. Thickness: 22.5mm Weight 223g.

18. Copper ingot fragment. Plano-convex. Thickness: 20.7mm Weight 168g.

19. Copper ingot fragment. Thickness: 26.6mm Weight 121g.

20. Copper ingot. Complete, small plano-convex ingot with flat triangular extension. Thickness: 15.3mm Weight 77g.

21. Copper ingot fragment. Thickness: 13.8mm 14.5mm Weight 45g.

22. Copper ingot fragment. Thickness Weight 18g.

23. Copper ingot fragment Thickness: 15.6mm Weight 6g.

Discussion

The artefacts retrieved represent a hoard of Late Bronze Age scrap metalwork consisting of complete and incomplete bronze tools as well as copper ingot fragments. Twenty-three items were recovered with a total weight of 2865g. A summary is given in Table 1. Weights were taken before conservation of the hoard and sometimes include soil still adhering to parts of the surfaces and the insides of socketed artefacts. The South-Eastern type socketed axes in the hoard anchor the find securely in the Ewart Park phase of the late Bronze Age, dated c.1020-800 BC on the basis of radiocarbon dates for wood in direct association with metalwork of the phase (Needham et al. 1998, 93, 98).

Item Number weight average weight Artefacts 10 998g 99.8g copper ingot fragments 13 1867g 143.6g Totals 23 2865g 124.6g

Table 1. Weights of the Hoard by Category

The condition of the material in the hoard is consistent and leaves no room for doubt that these twenty-three items originally formed the same deposit. Cutting edges of tools are blunt and on most artefacts extensive areas of the original surfaces have been removed by corrosion.

A Characterisation of the Hoard

The ‘Tendring area’ find consists of intact and fragmentary bronze artefacts as well as copper ingot fragments. The association of ingot material with scrap metalwork destined for recycling lends the hoard a distinctly industrial character. Many hoards of this kind have been reported from East Anglia and the Home Counties; their links with industrial production have led to them being described as founders’ hoards. Like so many other hoards of this kind, axes are the most conspicuous single component among the artefacts present. There is a minimum of five socketed axes represented by three complete South-Eastern axes (unclassified: no. 1; Class A, Shoebury variant: no. 2; Class A, Bilton variant: no.3) and fragments of two socketed axes (nos. 4-5) and a winged axe (no. 6). In addition there are two socketed gouges (nos. 7-8), a tanged knife (no. 9) and an awl (no. 10). Bronze awls are seldom encountered in scrap hoards because their small size could lead to them being overlooked when spent metal was collected for recycling. Along with artefacts such as pins, awls are more common as finds on settlement sites (where they presumably represent accidental loses). ‘Tendring area’ is further unusual in that it contains a large component of copper ingot material. Although many Ewart Park scrap hoards have been discovered in south-eastern Britain, hoards with copper ingots as the major component are quite rare. The copper ingot material present in this find takes the form of fragments of ingots that had been broken off the parent ingot as it cooled after smelting of the copper. Four fragments have parts of the original edge; they are all different in shape and diameter, but it would be unjustified to infer that they derived from four separate parent ingots, since complete ingots can show quite striking changes in profile and even slight differences in diameter in different parts of the same ingot. A consensus has emerged over the last twenty-five years that these Ewart Park phase hoards are caches of bronze and copper that were buried over a relatively short period of time when iron working was introduced towards the end of the Ewart Park phase c.800 BC. The bronze and copper in these hoards was not recovered from the ground in antiquity because the demand for bronze fell when iron replaced bronze as the staple metal for weaponry and tools (Burgess 1979, 275-6; Needham 1990, 130-40; Needham et al. 1998,93). As such, hoards like ‘Tendring Area’ document one of the key stages in the industrial and technological development of Britain.

Conclusion

The objects in the hoard were associated and were found in the same place at the same time. The ‘Tendring area’ hoard is a base metal Late Bronze Age find containing two or more metal objects and as such there is a prima facie case for considering the find to be Treasure, as defined under the Treasure Order (2002).

Dr Paul R Sealey June 2006 Assistant Curator of Archaeology at Colchester Museums.

Sally Worrell October 11th 2006 Portable Antiquities Scheme Prehistoric & Roman Finds Adviser Institute of Archaeology, UCL

Bibliography

Burgess, C.B., 1979. ‘A find from Boyton, Suffolk, and the end of the Bronze Age in Britain and Ireland’, in C.B. Burgess and D.G. Coombs (eds), Bronze Age Hoards: Some Finds Old and New (British Archaeological Reports, British Series 67) (Oxford), 269-82

Needham, S.P., 1990. The Petters Late Bronze Age Metalwork: An Analytical Study of Thames Valley Metalworking in its Settlement Context (British Museum Occasional Paper 70) (London)

Needham, S.P., Bronk Ramsay, C., Coombs, D.G., Cartwright, C. and Pettitt, P., 1998. ‘An independent chronology for British Bronze Age metalwork: the results of the Oxford radiocarbon accelerator programme’, Archaeol. J. 154 for 1997, 55-107

Schmidt, P.K. and Burgess, C.B., 1981. The Axes of Scotland and Northern England (Prähistorische Bronzefunde 9.7) (Munich)