File:Middle Bronze Age, Incomplete flanged palstave (FindID 570342).jpg

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Summary

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Middle Bronze Age: Incomplete flanged palstave
Photographer
Birmingham Museums Trust, Teresa Gilmore, 2013-07-24 16:00:45
Title
Middle Bronze Age: Incomplete flanged palstave
Description
English: An incomplete cast copper alloy palstave with raised flange facets dating from the Middle Bronze Age (1500 BC - 1150 BC).

The blade of the palstave is sub-triangular in plan with convex expanding sides and an incomplete convex cutting edge. In profile the blade is sub-triangular with the widest section being before the stop ridge. The sides of the blade are convex in shape. The blade (measured from the cutting edge to the stop ridge) is 96.18 mm long and the width of cutting edge is 56.31 mm. The thickness of the blade tip is 3.33 mm. The maximum thickness of the blade is 17.36mm (measured at thickest part below the stop ridge, the width at this point is 29.15 mm).

The rear part of the axe (from the stop ridge to the butt) is sub-rectangular in plan and sub-triangular in section (profile) with the widest part at the stop ridge. The septum (the area between the flange facets and the stop ridge) is 65.75 mm long, 16.03 mm wide, and 6.73 mm thick. The butt of the axe has been slightly damaged leaving two rounded corners with a gap between. The butt is 25.13 mm wide and 5.54 mm thick.

The flange facets are fused to the stop ridge forming two sub-rectangular raised elements to haft the axe by.

In total the palstave measures 166 mm in length, 56.54 mm wide (maximum) and 36.48 mm thick. It weighs 471.1 g.

Several casting flaws in the form of air bubbles are present on the septum. The poor quality of the casting is confirmed by an xray of the palstave which demostrated several large air bubbles within the internal structure of the palstave. XRF (X Ray Fluorescence) of the surface corrosion indicates that the palstave has a composition of 76.24% Copper (Cu), 14.62% Tin (Sn), 0.48% Lead (Pb) and 0.41% Iron (Fe).

The palstave is a mid to dark green colour, with an even surface patina. Abrasion, caused by movement whilst within the plough soil, has resulted in a loss of some of the original surface. The palstave has been kindly cleaned stabilised by Aimee Sims (Conservation Department, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery).

Similar examples to this palstave can be seen in Savory, 1980; catalogue entries 171, 172, 175, and 263 (the Mynydd Ta-y-glannau, Cemmaes Hoard). All of these examples fit into the middle phase of the Middle Bronze Age (MBA II).

Reference:
Savory, H. N., 1980. Guide Catalogue to the Bronze Age Collections Cardiff : National Museum of Wales, pp46-47, 106-107, 170-171 and 179
Depicted place (County of findspot) Gwynedd
Date between 1500 BC and 1150 BC
Accession number
FindID: 570342
Old ref: WMID-FE8C24
Filename: WMID-FE8C24_3.jpg
Credit line
The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) is a voluntary programme run by the United Kingdom government to record the increasing numbers of small finds of archaeological interest found by members of the public. The scheme started in 1997 and now covers most of England and Wales. Finds are published at https://finds.org.uk
Source https://finds.org.uk/database/ajax/download/id/434516
Catalog: https://finds.org.uk/database/images/image/id/434516/recordtype/artefacts archive copy at the Wayback Machine
Artefact: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/570342
Permission
(Reusing this file)		 Attribution-ShareAlike License
Object location52° 56′ 21.84″ N, 4° 18′ 22.1″ W Kartographer map based on OpenStreetMap.View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMapinfo

Licensing

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w:en:Creative Commons
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Attribution: The Portable Antiquities Scheme/ The Trustees of the British Museum
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current21:08, 28 January 2017Thumbnail for version as of 21:08, 28 January 20174,724 × 2,750 (3.17 MB)Fæ (talk | contribs)Portable Antiquities Scheme, WMID, FindID: 570342, bronze age, page 3210, batch count 2053

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