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Date: |
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Description: | Decorated developed flat axe, probably of type Scrabo Hill (Schmidt & Burgess (1981) corresponding to Type Ballyvalley (Harbison 1969) in Ireland and dating to the end of the Early Bronze Age, metalworking stage VI or Needham (1996) Period 4 c. 1700 - 1500 BC.
Difficulty in distinguishing differences between types of stage VI metalwork has been noted; this axe has the general shape of Type Glenalla, being long and narrow, but has the straight and slightly diverging sides characteristic of Type Scrabo Hill.
The axe probably had a comparatively straight and thin butt and straight sides which diverge gradually up to a point near the blade corresponding to the beginning of decoration on the face, after which the sides turn out sharply to the expanded crescentic blade edge. The sides are worked up forming low, poorly defined flanges and are decorated with a hammered elliptical design. The faces are flat with a weak, slightly curved median bevel, the position of which approximately corresponds with the edge of the decoration. The blade has one well defined blade facet, and the blade edge has been lost. The decoration is concentrated on the blade and is composed of oblique chiselled regular strokes of ??€˜rain??€™ pattern confined at the top and bottom by two tight rows of opposing diagonals forming a herring-bone motif within a punched dot border, and on the sides by a single column of tight diagonals outside a punched dot column. The diagonal markings edged by punched dots extend up both sides with a single column in the centre, which ends well before the butt.
The axe is in good condition with much of the surface surviving on one face, but fairly extensive pitting on the other face. | Subjects: | Developed | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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