BRONZE AGE FLAT AXEHEAD

-2200

Cast copper alloy miniature flat axehead, sub-triangular in plan, and slightly lozenge-shaped in profile, with an undeveloped, straight-sided blade (not flanged), tapering to a narrow rounded butt end, which is 13 mm wide. The sides of the blade do not expand but meet the curved blade edge with an abraded width of 35 mm. The length of the flat axe is only 90 mm so it is about half the size of a standard Early Bronze Age flat axe from South-west England. There is no evidence of any form of incised or cast decoration present on any surface of the axe, but much of the original surface is missing, due to corrosion and abrasion, caused by movement whilst within the ploughsoil. The surface is now very pitted and there is active light green powdering from bronze disease within some of the pits.Pearce (1983) illustrates a similar example of a slender miniature Migdale type flat axe on page 502, Plate 69, No.587, from Banner Down in Somerset, and a short but wider example of a broad Migdale type flat axe from Harlyn Bay, Cornwall, on page 418, Plate 12, No.98c, which both are associated with the Migdale metalworking tradition of the Early Bronze Age, c.2200-2000 BC.Cowie & O'Connor, Some Early Bronze Age stone moulds from Scotland, in Kienlin & Roberts, Metals and Societies (2009) illustrate a similar miniature flat axe with straight sides from Broomhill, Penicuik, Midlothian, on page 325, Fig.10, which is dated from the Early Broonze Age.There are similar miniature Migdale type axes recorded on the database in WMID-58D2F4, LVPL-DA4598 and LANCUM-069534, which is referred to as a 'Biggar' variant of the Migdale type of flat axe, but these have flanged blades.These axes all fit within the earliest phases of metal working in Britain, metalworking stage II, which corresponds to Needham's (1996) Period 2 (c.2350-2050 cal BC). This means that they are dated, broadly, to the same period as Beaker pottery, barbed and tanged flint arrowheads, copper halberds and gold lunulae.Reference:Needham, S. (1996) Chronology and Periodisation in the British Bronze Age. Acta Archaeologia, vol 67, pp.121-140Schmidt, P.K. & Burgess, C.B. (1981) The Axes of Scotland and Northern England. Prahistorische Bronzefunde. Abteilung IX. Band 7. C.H. Beck'Sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Munchen. pp.46-47.