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Description: | TREASURE CASE 2008 T686 Bronze Age hoard; comprised of a sword hilt, five ingots and associated pottery vessel sherds.Circumstances of Discovery and ProvenanceThe first discovery was the sword hilt, recovered at some distance from the hoard nucleus (hoard item 1). Subsequent exploration of the same part of the field brought to light the first two copper ingot fragments (items 2-3), about 'ten feet' (3 metres) apart. Hoard item 2 was associated with three sherds of pottery (Pot 1 Batch A). At same time a copper-alloy casting not thought to be Bronze Age and unconnected with the hoard reported here. The finder noticed a circular mark in the ground but he decided to call a halt to operations and seek professional archaeological advice, an act of remarkable restraint and intelligence. These first two ingots came to light on Sunday 16 November 2008. The remainder of the hoard came to light later that month, on 28 November, when a regular excavation was undertaken (see below).The ExcavationThe findspot was excavated on 28 November 2008. Conditions were difficult because the ground was saturated from earlier rain and the sticky Boulder Clay clung tenaciously to trowel and spade making it impossible to see - let alone retrieve - all the pottery in the feature. The Essex Finds Liaison Officer, Laura McLean, managed the project. She was assisted by the Cambridgeshire Finds Liaison Officer, E.R.A. Gill. Lizzie Gill had taken part in the excavation of the new A120 highway in Essex (Timby et al. 2007) and was put in charge of the excavation of the hoard because of her field-work experience. Her site plan and notes are included in the site archive. It should be added that the writer of this report was also present, and so what follows is based on first-hand experience of the excavation. When we had been shown the approximate hoard findspot by the farmer, an area about 1.25 by 2 metres was marked out and work began on clearing the plough soil to a consistent depth. The hoard nucleus came to light where green metal could be seen in the ground. It was covered with a polythene mini-grip bag and the team set about reducing the ground level in the trench to the same depth as the hoard. The feature with the hoard was rich in charcoal, flint-tempered sherds and flint pebbles, many of which had been burnt. As sample of four stones from the fill was extracted for retention. This feature extended beyond the limits of the small trench in every direction; as the edge could not be located, it proved impossible to tell if it were a ditch or pit. Eventually the hoard nucleus was excavated. It consisted of the base of a pot in which three copper ingot fragments had been tightly wedged (Pot 1 Batch A and hoard items 4-6). By now the light was fading, and the work had to be concluded. There was not the time to follow the hoard feature down to natural.Hoard Metalwork CatalogueNo metallurgical analyses have been undertaken, but it may be presumed that the sword fragment is bronze and that the ingot fragments are copper. All the ingot fragments have part of the outer circular edge, so it has been possible to estimate the original diameter of the parent ingot. No joins could be found among the ingot fragments and the six present apparently came from at least three different ingots. It should be borne in mind that the last item in the hoard catalogue is not thought to be Bronze Age, and is not considered further.1. Copper-alloy sword hilt fragment. Midway between the asymmetrical and horn-like tips of the terminal is an incomplete protuberance that extends a few millimetres beyond the hilt. In section the hilt is sub-rectangular with more or less flat sides and no sign of a flanged edge. Both long sides bulge outwards slightly. In the middle of the broad face there is a rivet slot. The terminal protuberance is a very rare feature on Bronze Age swords. It is present on only two weapons in the corpus compiled by Colquhoun and Burgess (1988, pls 78 and 87 nos 522 and 592). Both are Ewart Park type, and it is reasonable to propose the Broxted weapon as another Ewart Park sword on this basis. Rivet slots (as opposed to rivet holes) are thought to have been an early feature of Ewart Park swords (ibid., 67). Weight 74 grams; length 83 millimetres; width 38.2 millimetres; depth 8.4 millimetres.2. Copper ingot fragment. Weight 579 grams; original diameter 200 millimetres.3. Copper ingot fragment. Weight 287grams; original diameter 140 millimetres.4. Copper ingot fragment. Weight 339 grams; original diameter 240 millimetres.5. Copper ingot fragment. Weight 306 grams; original diameter 140 millimetres.6. Copper ingot fragment. Weight 194 grams; original diameter 140 millimetres.Other Metalwork7. Copper-alloy casting of triangular section with one flat and two concave faces. The solidity of the fragment and its form find no parallels in Bronze Age metalwork. Its identification and date remain to be elucidated. Weight 133 grams; length 43.1 millimetres; width 37.9 millimetres; depth 28.8 millimetres.Hoard PotterySherds of hand-made pottery representing two vessels were recovered. One (Pot 1) is the pot that held the hoard, the other (Pot 2) is a vessel from the same feature as the hoard. Sherds from Pot 1 were found in three batches: as surface finds (Batch A), as the container for three ingot fragments packed in the base of the vessel (Batch B), and as dislodged sherds in the feature containing the hoard (Batch C). Batches A, B and C are deemed to represent the same pot on the basis of their congruence of fabric and typology. • Pot 1 Batch A: 19sherds weighing 113g :includes a rim and joining base sherds • Pot 1 Batch B: 3 sherds weighing 10g : includes a rim sherd • Pot 1 Batch C: 2 sherds weighing 8g • Pot 2: 23 sherds weighing 129g : one sherd decorated with tramlinesDescription of Pot 1The fabric has sparse to common (6-10 grains per cm²) well-sorted crushed burnt flint temper < 2 millimetres across, with abundant fine silver mica. It is dark grey to black, with smoothed or wiped surfaces. Sherds are 4-5 millimetres thick. Base sherds are flat with the flint rough-casting so typical of the period O'Connell (1986, 62). Two rim sherds were recovered. Both have flat tops that look as if they had been trimmed with a knife. Similar rims are present in late Bronze Age (c. 1150-800 BC) and earliest Iron Age (c. 800-600 BC) contexts. Parallels can be cited from the Stansted airport excavations (Brown 2004, fig.30 nos 5 and 14) and from further afield in Essex at Mucking North Ring (Barrett and Bond 1988, figs 20-23 nos 3, 42-4, 82, 88 and 96). These two rim sherds are not precisely identical and have the latitude of form found in many hand-made prehistoric pots. But their connection seems assured from the presence of sporadic rounded ironstone pellets in the rim discovered in the plough soil from Batch B and in several of the body sherds of Batch A. The pot could not be recovered in its entirety: some sherds had been dispersed by the plough and the sticky Boulder Clay did not allow comprehensive sherd recovery when the site was excavated. Although the vessel profile could not be established, it is clear we are dealing with an open form of some height, a deep bowl. The joining base sherds were glued together by the writer to facilitate typological analysis.Description of Pot 2Pot 2 is tempered with poorly-sorted abundant ( › 10 grains per cm²) crushed burnt flint in a clean clay matrix, with sparse fine silver mica. Walls are 8-10.5 millimetres thick. Surfaces are consistently oxidised to a red to dark red-brown colour, and have the speckled white appearance of robustly flint-tempered ware. One sherd has lightly incised tramlines on the exterior. Sherds from this pot were found throughout the fill of the feature with the hoard but were not in direct and immediate association with the hoard pot and its ingot fragments.Hoard WeightThe weights of the hoard items are correct to the nearest whole gram. In total, the metalwork in the hoard weighs 1,779 grams. It should be borne in mind that the hoard components may not have been recovered in their entirety.DateThe sword anchors the find securely in the Ewart Park phase of the late Bronze Age, now dated c. 1020-800 BC on the basis of radiocarbon dates for wood in direct association with metalwork of the phase (Needham et al. 1998, 93, 98).The Status of the Hoard as Potential TreasureThe metalwork items reported here constitute a hoard, from which the initial discovery of the sword hilt may presumed to have been dispersed by the plough.As a collection of prehistoric metalwork, there is a prima facie case for considering the Broxted find to be treasure, as defined in law.If the metalwork is indeed declared treasure, the pottery found in the same place and at the same time as the rest of the finds may be deemed to be treasure as well. An Archaeological Commentary on the DiscoveryThis find is remarkable because• It is the first hoard of Bronze Age metalwork from Essex to have been excavated in situ by an archaeological team. The Boreham hoard is no exception because, although it too was excavated scientifically, the finds were not in situ but present instead in redeposited soil and rubble from construction work (Buckley et al. 1986, 248).• It is one of the very few Bronze Age hoards where there is the secure association of pottery and metalwork.Dr Paul R. Sealey, F.S.A. Curator of Archaeology Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service 17 June 2009BibliographyBarrett, J.C. and Bond, D., 1988. 'The pottery', in D. Bond, Excavation at the North Ring, Mucking, Essex: A Late Bronze Age Enclosure (East Anglian Archaeology Report 43) (Chelmsford), 25-37Brown, N.R., 2004. 'Late Bronze Age, early and middle Iron Age pottery', in R. Havis and H. Brooks, Excavations at Stansted Airport, 1986-91. Vol.1: Prehistoric and Romano-British (East Anglian Archaeology Report 107) (Chelmsford), 39-54Buckley, D.G., Brown, N.R. and Greenwood, P.A., 1986. 'Late Bronze Age hoards from the Chelmer valley, Essex', Antiq. J. 66, 248-66Colquhoun, I.A. and Burgess, C.B., 1988. The Swords of Britain (Prähistorische Bronzefunde 4.5) (Munich)Needham, S.P., Ramsay, C.B., Coombs, D.G., Cartwright, C. and Pettitt, P., 1998. 'An independent chronology for British Bronze Age metalwork: the results of the Oxford radiocarbon accelerator programme', Archaeol. J. 154 for 1997, 55-107O'Connell, M., 1986. Petters Sports Field, Egham: Excavation of a Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age Site (Research Volume of the Surrey Archaeological Society 10) (Guildford)Timby, J.R., Brown, R., Biddulph, E., Hardy, A. and Powell, A.B., 2007. A Slice of Rural Essex: Recent Archaeological Discoveries from the A120 between Stansted Airport and Braintree (Oxford Wessex Archaeology Monograph 1) (Oxford & Salisbury)
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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