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Description: | A complete but damaged knapped, ground and polished axe head of probable later Neolithic date (2900-2100 BC). The axe is knapped from a mid grey black volcanic tuff. This rock type is formed from compressed volcanic ash that is found in Britain and Ireland in a band that runs down the Irish Sea from the Lake District (the Langdale??s source Group VI), County Antrim (Ireland), through North Wales (Graig Lwyd Group VII), and into Cornwall and Devon (Groups XVI and IV respectively). Volcanic tuff is similar to flint in that it can be finely worked, ground and polished.
This axe is sub rectangular in plan and sub-oval (humped) in cross section. It measures 106mm length, 48.3mm width, and is 26.6mm thick. The fragment weighs 247.68 grams. The axe has been damaged in two areas. The first area of significant damage is at the rear of the axehead where a blow has removed the butt of the axe. This damage occurred in antiquity as a patina has developed over the break. The second area of damage is located near the cutting edge and has been formed by a series of events. These events include a series of shallow dished shaped flake scars on the upper cutting face. These flake scars probably represent deliberate re-flaking and sharpening of the cutting edge. Such scars are often polished away and so are not visible on many examples. Other events are shown by a series of hinge fractures along the upper and lower faces of the cutting edge. These factures may have been caused by use but they may have also occurred in the plough soil. It is impossible to source axes such as these without a detailed petrological analysis of the rock. This would allow the original source of the rock to be established.
On the under face of the axe is a small area of a brown coloured adhesive. This may be the remains of an antiquarian label (stuck on using either a resin or organic (animal) glue), which has since been lost. However this could also be a deposit which has adhered to the stone in the buried environment. It should also be said that there is some doubt as to the provenance (exact findspot) of this axe. | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | Reavill, Peter - Portable Antiquities Scheme | Identifier: | http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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