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Date: |
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Description: | A fragment of a socketed spearhead, probably from the middle bronze age (1500BC to 1150BC). The fragment has lozenge-section midrib which tapers towards the tip, which is missing. The fragment is also broken across the socket, with a maximum remaining socket depth of approximately 7.5mm. In section the thin wings are triangular rather than being entirely flat. The wings terminate towards the base of the fragment, approximately where the socket ends. In plan the wings are broadly leaf shaped, although it must be emphasised that they are incomplete and the cutting edges are missing.The maximum dimensions of the fragment are 69.6mm long, 20.0mm wide, and 12.7mm thick. It weighs 27.06g. The fragment has a well developed brown patina, and where this is missing, particularly on the edges of the fragment, the surface has a more dull green/brown appearance.Ehrenberg (1977, p4) states that bronze spearheads first seem to occur in Britain in the final phase of the Early Bronze Age, when three forms were current: the tanged spearhead; the pegged early socketed spearhead; and the end-looped spearhead. The fragment recorded here is unlikely to fit into one of these categories. The tanged spearhead is not socketed unlike the fragment recorded here. The pegged early socketed and end-looped spearheads have a socket divided from the blade by the curving or V-shaped line of the base of the blade moulding (see Ehrenberg, 1977, p4).The most common and widespread form of spearhead from the late bronze age is the plain pegged spearhead (see Ehrenberg, 1977, p13-15). In most cases the socket has a circular external as well as internal section, unlike the example recorded here. The barbed spearhead, also of the late BA tends to have a narrow ovate midrib, again, unlike the fragment recorded here (see Ehrenberg, 1977, p15).Rather, this fragment is most likely to represent one of the main types of spearhead current in the middle bronze age - kite bladed, side-looped, or basal looped (see Ehrenberg, 1977, p6-12). These types may have lozenge midrib sections, as in the fragment recorded here, with the socket extending beyond the blade. However, as the majority of the object is missing, which would have the diagnostic features, the identification and dating cannot be narrowed down further.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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