File:Bronze Age palstave axe, profile view (FindID 103984).jpg

English: Complete cast copper alloy ‘south western’ type late Middle Bronze Age palstave axe. The back portion of the axe has a septum that is rectangular in plan with a pronounced backstop. The side flanges are high, and at their highest point rise fractionally past the backstop, along the axe’s length. The flanges then angle down sharply towards the rear of the axe and reach the septum at a point just before the butt, typical of this variant. This gives the back portion of the axe a sharply wedge shaped profile. The butt of the axe is slightly chipped and worn. The blade of the axe is rectangular in plan for most of its length, before flaring out into the crescentic blade, and has a less pronounced flattened wedge shaped profile than the rear. The cutting edge and blade tips are intact and only slightly worn. The blade of the axe is decorated towards the backstop end with a deeply incised V shape (with the point towards the cutting edge), with the two strokes of the V barely meeting at the point. This motif is repeated on the opposite side, but is slightly less pronounced. There is an intact semicircular loop that straddles the backstop and the top of the blade. A worn casting seam runs down the entire length of the looped side of the axe, but is barely visible on the loop itself. There is no casting seam visible on the opposite side.

The original surface of the axe survives in significant patches with an even mid green patina. Exposed surfaces are bright green and bright light blue. One side of the axe has noticeable patches of bright cobalt blue corrosion product. The axe is 132.9mm long and 24.68mm wide at the butt. The blade is 42.94mm wide tip to tip. The axe is 33.43mm thick at the backstop. The loop is 23.88mm long and 11.04mm wide. The axe weighs 339.4g.

An example of a ‘south western’ type axe with the same V incised decoration can be seen in Schmidt & Burgess, 1981, The axes of Scotland and Northern England, plate 61, number 840. The discussion of these axes is on pages 141-143. Here it mentions that the distribution of these axes is normally confined to the south west of England (hence the name), so it is unusual to see one as far east as Essex. Axes of this type belong to the Acton-Taunton phase of 1500-1275BC.