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Description: | An irregular fragment from the butt of a ground and polished axehead of later Neolithic date (3000 - 2100 BC). The axe is knapped from a mid grey buff volcanic tuff. This rock type is formed from compressed volcanic ash and has a fine grained composition; there is no sign of inclusions within the exposed fresh surface. Tuff 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 to form a variety of tools; however axes are the most common find type and were used across Northern Europe during the Neolithic period.The axe fragment is broadly sub-rectangular in plan; with an oval (slightly humped) cross section. In plan the sides of the axe taper from the widest point (at the broken edge) to a relatively narrow slightly rounded butt. The sides of the axe have abraded however there are several areas where clear polished side facets are present. Approximately 1/3 - ½ of the axe is lost, including the cutting edge and the widest mid part. The axe has been damaged in several areas. Most of this has occurred relatively recently with at least one blow shattering the axe, clear evidence of this blow can be seen in the deep hinge fractures and relatively deep and uncontrolled flakes present on both sides of the axe. The finder suggests that this damage is consistent with the machine flailing of the scrub near the findspot. In addition to these areas of modern damage there are also a number of other areas of flaking. These are similar to those that you would expect through the roughing out process, but have cut through the polished surface. This would suggest that someone has deliberately re-flaked the axe during its 'working life' prior to deposition. These scars / flakes are relatively regular and slightly dished in appearance; they are present mostly around the butt of the axe, where three parallel scars are most evident. These areas are also well patinated (unlike the areas of modern damage). This pattern of reshaping the butt has been observed on a number of recent finds of polished axehead (see: HESH-17B4B1 from Wem, Salop; and HESH-EA86E3 Donnington, Herefordshire)The axe fragment measures 79.2mm length, a maximum of 46.8mm width, and is a maximum of 27.4mm thick: it weighs 119.23 grams.The axe is a mid whitish cream buff colour with many areas of smooth well polished surface. The areas of damage and flaking have been outlined above. Clear polishing striations can be seen on much of the axe, some of these are relatively deep and patinated. Some of these striations may be from re-polishing but the surface is on the whole smooth and complete. There is a colour differentiation between the two faces (one being much more orange in colour) this is most likely due to staining and weathering. 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. However, the weathered colour of the tuff is typical similar to a number of axes in the collection of Shropshire County Museum Service which have been petrographically tested as coming from the Langdale region source (Group VI), a good parallel can be seen in an example in Shrewsbury Museum from Lydham, South Shropshire (SHYMS: A/2003/090)
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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