ROMAN MINIATURE OBJECT

43

An incomplete copper-alloy miniature model of a Bronze Age type socketed axehead. This axehead is rectangular in shape and measures 23mm in length and 12mm in width. Its terminal end has rounded corners and is flat, the socketed end is hollow, with an oval cross-section. There is a circular perforation through the axehead just before it becomes flat, this hole measures 4mm in diameter. Part of the shaft/attachment loop survives and it too appears to have had a circular perforation through it where it joins the head, it is now incomplete due to an old break. This axehead is very unusual and no exact parallel can be found for it. Other miniature socketed axeheads and flat axeheads have been found in Chillesford and Claydon, Suffolk, however, they do not have a circular perforation through them as this example does. It is most likely to be Roman in date and be a votive copy of a Bronze Age socketed axehead.