UNKNOWN MINIATURE OBJECT

-1200

Copper alloy miniature socketed axe, probably of later prehistoric dateMiniature copper alloy axe of Late Bronze Age to Romano-British date (c. 1200 BC -AD 400) and either of Robinson's (1995, p 62) type IIb (with an expanded blade) or type IVb (parallel, straight sided).The axe head is complete (with an overall length of 20.3mm and a weight of 6.8g). The mouth is sub-oval (external: 11.0mm x 8.4mm; internal 6.5mm x 4.3mm and 10.1mm deep) with a 'pinch' on the looped side. The socket is irregular but is comparatively deep (at 10.2mm). The unlooped side undulates slightly and is rounded across its thickness. The loped side is comparatively straight either side of the loop (which gives the loop a maximum width of 14.0mm). The loop is of D-shaped section (with a width of 4.4mm - 4.9mm and a thickness of 2.3mm) enclosing a circular aperture (with a diameter of 2.4mm). Both faces are concave across both their lengths and widths. The blade is very slightly expanded (with a width of 11.8mm) and the blade edge is curved. One face has the surviving remnant of an incised line or possibly a series of punched marks, positioned between the mouth and loop (3.2mm beneath the mouth). The line would appear to represent a mouth moulding from a socketed axe. There is the suggestion of further marks running vertically down the looped side, above the loop, which would seem to suggest a casting seam. The axe surface has a pale green patina with patches of pale brown corrosion.Miniature axes have a largely south west England distribution with a concentration in Wiltshire; Robinson catalogues 36 examples from the county (ibid.). The axes are problematic to date because of a lack of reliable contextual information. The creation of a cast socket would seem to reinforce a Late Bronze Age date and miniature axes have been found near or associated with later prehistoric midden sites such as at Whitchurch in Warwickshire (Waddington & Sharples pers comm.) and from Potterne in Wiltshire. Robinson (1995, p 61) speculates that Late Bronze Age axes may have been venerated and copied as amulates into the Roman period