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Date: |
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Description: | A fragment of a cast copper alloy 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, which has a circular internal section, and tapers to a point approximately 35mm from the broken base of the socket. In section the thin wings are triangular rather than being entirely flat. The wings terminate towards the base of the fragment, but the damage to the surface of the spearhead means that it is unclear if this is due to loss of material. 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 70.5mm long, 17.8mm wide, and 10.3mm thick. It weighs 21.49g. The fragment has a well developed green patina, and on the substantial areas where the original surface is missing, particularly on the edges of the fragment, there is has a duller green/light green pitted appearance. There are distinct shallow grooves running down all of the original surfaces of the spearhead. These are patinated suggesting that these were not made recently. 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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