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Description: | Wooden spade dating from the Medieval period. Analysed by Mr Steve Allen of the York Arch. Trust who also wrote the official report. The following description and identification are excerpts of that report: "Single piece wooden spade cut from tangentially faced heartwood. Part of side branch incorporated into blade much of which is comprised of burr wood. 'T' handle with slight rounding from wear but still with well defined whittled angle between handle and shaft. Shaft itself of flattened oval cross section, flat faces to front and rear of artefact, tapering along length with wider end of shaft at blade end of object. Again, well defined whittle shoulders at junction with blade. Blade of sub-triangular cross section, with the two shorter sides forming a shallow angle on reverse of blade. Thickness tapers away from handle towards end and both edges. Rounded sub-triangular plan offset to one side from shaft. Faint axe hewing marks up to 40mm wide on reverse face. Part of handle broken away before burial and missing. Lower corner of blade recently broken away and missing. Some recent surface damage to shaft around 1/3 of its length from the handle. Other very minor surface damage present. All surfaces abraded. Wood species identified as Quercus spp. OA 920 l. Blade 169 l, 189 w, 31 th. Shaft 702 l, 44-34 w, 35-33 th. Handle 44 l, >75 w, 30 th.... The artefact is quite certainly a spade, with a flat face and short, compact, short robust blade pointed towards the tip. In this it is different from a shovel, which has a wider blade intended primarily for scooping and carrying. The identification is confirmed by the asymmetric plan of the object and its thickness at the back edge. When in use, the left hand side of the blade is wider than that on the right, allowing space for a foot to push the blade down. Triangular and rectangular spade blades are believed on current evidence to date between the thirteenth and sixteenth century AD (Morris 2000, 2316)." Images kindly supplied by S.J. Allen.
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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