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Description: | Middle Bronze Age basal-looped spearhead. Length 220mm and 32mm wide across the widest part of the leaf-shaped blade. The socket, encircled by three lightly engraved lines, is 50mm and 16-17mm in diameter at the mouth where it is approximately circular in cross section; further up, the section is sharply angular. Because part of the wooden shaft remains firmly wedged in place it is not possible to known how far the hollow socket extends. There are two neatly formed loops at the base of the blade, one a little larger and lower than the other. The two halves of the mould have been very slightly misaligned and the thickness of the socket metal varies around its circuit. There is a small blow hole in one side of the spine just above the loops. The weapon is not worn or smoothed by the sea and there are stains on the blade which suggest that it had laid until recently in some peaty soil. It is probable, therefore, that it had been recently eroded from coastal peats. The metal is in good condition with a fairly uniform matt surface of blue/purple colour; nowhere is the patination shiny, which may be an effect of salt water and sand. The edges of the blade have been sharpened in the middle section in antiquity, creating a slightly ragged, thinner edge; the bottom of the socket has also seen a little damage which may have occurred during use. This type of basal-looped spearhead with a smooth junction between loop and leaf-shaped blade belongs to the Taunton Phase of the Middle Bronze Age dating from between 1400 and 1300 cal BC (Needham 1997). It can be paralleled in the Taunton hoard itself and in the Stibbard hoard from Norfolk. In Wales the closest parallel is the very splendid weapon from Nebo near Llanrwst which is twice the length but has the same angular socket and essentially leaf-shaped blade (Bezant Lowe 1912, 47; Ellis Davies 1929, 342). A spearhead from the river at Hay on Wye is of similar date but has a rather more complex section across the blade (Savory 1980, 112, fig.27). | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | MacDonald, Philip | Identifier: | http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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