File:Treasure case 2011 T110, Early Iron Age hoard consisting of seven objects (FindID 431351).jpg

English: An Early Iron Age hoard consisting of seven objects including: one copper alloy horse-bit, one fragment of a copper alloy ingot, one ring, one harness fitting and two axe/chisel blade fragments.

Description

1. Copper alloy ?object irregularly shaped fragment. The pattern of the three parallel semi-circular impressions on one side of the fragment indicate that this is not a simply ingot fragment but may well have been used in the manufacture of an object. The three roughly rectangular impressions on other sides appear to support this interpretation. Further cleaning might improve this identification. The patina is greyish-green with light green patches.

Weight: 372.9g, Max length: 72.46mm, Max Width: 48.57mm, Max Thickness: 33.19mm

2. Copper alloy axe/hammer/chisel blade fragment. Three straight edges and one broken edge suggest that is it is blade - albeit a heavily worked blade. The patina is greyish-green.

Weight: 80.8g, Max Length: 31.12mm, Max Width: 29.55mm, Max Thickness: 18.92mm

3. Copper alloy axe/chisel blade fragment. Three straight edges and one broken edge suggests a blade, perhaps with the bottom of the socket at the thick end. The blade is heavily worked. The patina is greyish-green.

Weight: 60.8g, Max Length: 30.71mm, Max Width: 27.12mm, Max Thickness: 17.02mm

4. Smoothed stone fragment. Semi-circular sloped and smoothed edge with the other edges being broken.

Weight: 91.5g, Max Length: 30.5mm, Max Width: 28.3mm, Max Thickness: 18.3mm

5. Cast copper alloy annular ring with a circular section. There are no markings on the exterior or the interior of the ring and it is undecorated. No joint is visible. No visible signs of wear. The patina is a greyish-green.

Weight: 46.5g, Diameter: 60.85mm, Thickness: 7.12mm

6. Copper alloy horse-bit - one bar with a loop on each end, of a two piece horse bit. The bar is slightly curved and has three twists that reach the loop ends. These are therefore part of the manufacture process (the bending of the square sectioned original bar). One loop is cast and looks thinned down in one area. The other loop was cast with an opening and was hammered closed around a ring. The ring is annular, flattened and undecorated. No join is visible in the ring. The bar is one half of two-piece horse bit. A similar bar would have been connected to the loop and ring. The rings are cheek pieces which would have held the reins.

Weight: 91.5g, Length of Bar: 86.63mm, Diameter of Ring: 66.25mm, Thickness of Ring: 8.23mm

7 Copper alloy harness fitting. The fitting has been made in one casting and comprises a circular cross sectioned bar with moulded twisted decoration. At either end of the bar are circular attachment loops, one of which has been broken away by and old break. There is a break in the loop of the complete terminal; it is unclear whether this is part of the manufacture has a occurred as the result of ware. This object was an addenda and can be seen here: <a href="../../database/artefacts/record/id/463383">KENT-9A4681</a>

Weight: 114.68 gram Length: 140.6 mm, Diameter: 11.3 mm

Discussion

The copper alloy annular ring and the half of a copper alloy horse-bit are the main diagnostic objects for dating the 'Stockbury' hoard. The annular ring would not have been the missing ring of the horse-bit. Copper alloy horse-bits are exceptionally rare in Bronze Age/Early Iron Age Britain and this is very probably the first of its kind to be found in Britain. Horse-bits are widely known in continental western Europe where it has been classified by Balkwill (1973) as Group 4 Type - mouthpieces as having a central joint with or without separate cheek-pieces. The closest parallel appears to be a horse-bit from a grave in Steinkirchen, Bavaria, Germany (Balkwill 1973, 434f, 448f, see also fig. 5, 32A). In more recent and thorough reviews of Hallstatt horse-bits in central Europe by Pare (1991) and Metzner-Nebelsick (1994), the typological schemes encompassing the 'Stockbury' horse-bit have been refined. Both Pare (1991, 9-12, Fig 9 Types B/C) and Metzner-Nebelsick (1994, Fig 7, Type 1) place the horse-bit in the Hallstatt C period (c. 800-625 BC) which is the equivalent to the Llyn Fawr metalwork phase (c. 800-600 BC) in Britain (O'Connor 2007, Fig 7). Pare (1991) highlights the relationship of the horse-bits in central Europe to graves containing copper alloy Gündlingen swords (Pare 1991, 10) which are found in relatively high concentrations in southeast England with finds extending along the coast of eastern Britain (O'Connor 2007, 68-71, Fig 5). It is therefore possible that the 'Stockbury' horse-bit was placed in a hoard in southeast England as a result of these networks which stretched throughout temperate central and western Europe during the 8^th and 7^th centuries BC.

Conclusion

The objects qualify as Treasure under the stipulations of the Treasure Act (1996) (Designation Order 2002).

Bibliography

Balkwill, C.J. 1973. The earliest horse-bits of western Europe. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 39, 425-452.

Hüttell, H.G. 1981. Bronzezeitliche Trensen in Mittel- und Osteuropa. Präehistorische Bronzefunde XVII, 1.Munich, C.H. Beck.

Metzner-Nebelsick, C. 1994. Die fruheisenzeitliche Trensen entwicklung zwischen Kaukasus und Mitteleuropa. In Archäologische Untersuchungen zum Übergang von der Bronze- zur Eisenzeit zwischen Nordsee und Kaukasus. Ergebnisse eines Kolloquiums in Regensburg 28.-30. Oktober 1992. Regensburger Beiträge zur Archäologie 1, 383-447.

Pare, C. 1991. Swords, Wagon-Graves, and the beginning of the Early Iron Age in Central Europe. Kleine Schriften aus dem Vorgeschichtlichen Seminar Marburg 37.

Marion Uckelmann (Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter) 26.8.11

Jessica Leedham (Volunteer)

Ben Roberts (Curator of European Bronze Age)