File:2007 T497 Bronze Age Hoard (FindID 194464-284997).jpg

English: CORONER'S REPORT

Bronze Age Hoard

Description of objects

1. Incomplete looped socketed axe. The sides are gently concave and terminate in an unexpanded blade; the upper half of the loop is missing. The entire circuit of the mouth is absent, along with part of the upper ends of the four sides. Length 97.5 millimetres; weight 198 grammes. Axes like this are the Bilton (Worthing) variant of the ubiquitous south-eastern axe (Schmidt & Burgess 1981, 214, pl.85 nos 1275-80).

2. Complete looped socketed axe. The sides are gently concave and terminate in an unexpanded blade; the loop is present. There is an unobtrusive horizontal moulding immediately below the rim and another further down at the level of the upper end of the loop. Each broad face of the axe has a rib on the inside of the socket that runs from the mouth to a point about a quarter of the way down the inside. Ribs of this kind are Ehrenberg Type 5a (Ehrenberg 1981, 215-16). Length 79 millimetres; weight 166 grammes. This is another Type Bilton (Worthing) axe (see above).

3. Incomplete looped socketed axe consisting of two fragments glued together by the finder. The sides are gently concave and terminate in an expanded blade; the loop is present. There is a horizontal moulding immediately below the rim and another further down at the level of the upper end of the loop. On the narrow side that survives in its entirety the casting seam is particularly prominent, especially on the loop where no attempt at all had been made to remove it or even file it down. Most of two of the adjacent sides are missing from the rim to a point just over half way towards the blade. The surface patina is smooth and even, with only a few patches of corrosion; the blade edge is still sharp. Length 96 millimetres; weight 142 grammes. The axe is the ubiquitous south-eastern type (Schmidt & Burgess 1981, 212-17, pls 84-86 nos 1267-1294).

4. Incomplete looped socketed axe. The sides are gently concave and terminate in an unexpanded blade; the loop is present. There is an unobtrusive horizontal moulding immediately below the rim and another further down at the level of the upper end of the loop. Most of the surface has been destroyed by corrosion and the cutting edge has been eaten away in its entirety. Only a few patches of the original surface survive, particularly around the loop. More than half of the rim is missing. Length 89.6 millimetres; weight 116 grammes. This is another Type Bilton (Worthing) axe (see above).

5. Socketed axe blade. The cutting edge is gently curved and still sharp; the surface patina is smooth and undamaged. Both casting seams had been removed with care. One face had been gently bent inwards when the axe was broken up for scrap in antiquity. Length 48.5 millimetres; weight 101 grammes

6. Socketed axe blade; both broad sides had been bent inwards when the axe was broken up for scrap in antiquity. The surface is deeply corroded and the cutting edge has been eaten away in its entirety; only a few patches of the original surface are present. Length 56.9 millimetres; weight 93 grammes

7. Socketed axe fragment from the mouth of an artefact with a prominent casting seam. Length 28.9 millimetres; weight 24 grammes

8. Socketed axe fragment from the mouth of the artefact; a casting seam is present. The mouth had been bent out of true when the axe was broken up for scrap in antiquity. Length 47.5 millimetres; weight 18 grammes

9. Socketed axe fragment from the mouth of the artefact; all that survives of the loop are two stumps. Length 30.2 millimetres; weight 16 grammes

10. Socketed axe fragment from the mouth of the artefact; the stump of the upper loop is present below the rim. Length 21.6 millimetres; weight 8 grammes

11. Copper alloy ingot fragment. Weight 786 grammes

12. Copper alloy ingot fragment Diameter 12 centimetres. Weight 585 grammes

13. Copper alloy ingot fragment. Weight 414 grammes

14. Copper alloy ingot fragment. Diameter 21 centimetres. Weight 395 grammes

15. Copper alloy ingot fragment. Weight 345 grammes

16. Copper alloy ingot fragment. Diameter 11 centimetres. Weight 342 grammes

17. Copper alloy ingot fragment. Weight 281 grammes

18. Copper alloy ingot fragment. Diameter 10 centimetres. Weight 243 grammes

19. Copper alloy ingot fragment. Diameter 12 centimetres. Weight 213 grammes

20. Copper alloy ingot fragment. Diameter 18 centimetres. Weight 190 grammes

21. Copper alloy ingot fragment. Diameter 14 centimetres. Weight 187 grammes

22. Copper alloy ingot fragment. Weight 178 grammes

23. Copper alloy ingot fragment. Diameter 14 centimetres. Weight 170 grammes

24. Copper alloy ingot fragment. Weight 166 grammes

25. Copper alloy ingot fragment. Weight 156 grammes

26. Copper alloy ingot fragment. Weight 141 grammes

27. Copper alloy ingot fragment. Weight 139 grammes

28. Copper alloy ingot fragment. Weight 129 grammes

29. Copper alloy ingot fragment. Weight 106 grammes

30. Copper alloy ingot fragment. Weight 56 grammes

31. Copper alloy ingot fragment. Weight 50 grammes

32. Copper alloy ingot fragment. Weight 42 grammes Discussion The finds retrieved represent a hoard of late Bronze Age scrap metalwork buried c. 1020-800 BC consisting of complete and incomplete bronze socketed axes and copper alloy ingot fragments. The south-eastern 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).

Thirty-two items were recovered with a total weight of 6.196 kilos.

item number weight average weight Socketed axes and axe fragments 10 882g 88.2g Copper alloy ingot fragments 22 5314g 241.5g Totals 32 6196g 193.6g Weights of the Hatfield Broad Oak Hoard by Category

NB Weights were taken before conservation of the hoard; measurements are correct to the nearest gramme and calculations correct to one decimal place.

A Characterisation of the Hoard

The Hatfield Broad Oak find consists of one complete and several incomplete or fragmentary bronze artefacts, as well as copper alloy 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 Essex, East Anglia and the Home Counties; their links with industrial production have led to them being described as founders' hoards. The only artefact type present at Hatfield Broad Oak is the socketed axe.
This predominance of axes is typical of hoards of the period and region, but the large numbers found raise their own problems of interpretation (Roberts & Ottaway 2004). Hatfield Broad Oak is also noteworthy for the large component of copper alloy ingot material. Although many Ewart Park scrap hoards have been discovered in south-eastern Britain, hoards with copper alloy ingots as the major component are in a minority.
The copper alloy ingot material present at Hatfield Broad Oak takes the form of fragments of ingots that had been broken off the parent ingot as it cooled. A complete ingot consists of a shallow dome-shaped mass of metal. Its flat base is actually the upper surface of a pool of liquid copper that solidified when the ore was smelted in a furnace with a concave base. Eight fragments have parts of the original outer edge; they are all different in shape and diameter, but it would be unjustified to infer that they derived from eight separate parent ingots. One says this because complete ingots can have variations in profile and even slight differences in diameter in different parts of the same ingot. Having said that, at least two ingots are represented by the Hatfield Broad Oak fragments.
A consensus has emerged over the last thirty 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 became widespread towards the end of the Ewart Park phase c.800 BC. However, whether the bronze in these hoards was not recovered from the ground because the demand 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), is still debated. Nonetheless, hoards like Hatfield Broad Oak document one of the key stages in the industrial and technological development of Britain.

Conclusion

The Hatfield Broad Oak hoard is a collection of prehistoric metalwork and should be considered to be treasure, under the Treasure Order (2002) being a base-metal prehistoric find containing two or more metal objects.