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Description: | Late Bronze Age socketed tool, probably a hammer of Middle to Late Bronze Age date c. 1200 - 700BCThe tool is incomplete missing the mouth (with a length of 65.5mm and a weight of 101.1g) and has broken in antiquity. At the break, the socket mouth is of oval form (with an internal dimensions of 12.4mm x 11.1mm and with a surviving depth of 28.9mm). The tool is thicker on the more complete side (with a thickness of 3.6mm compared to 1.7mm). Each side had at least two linear stepped mouldings along its length (with a depth of up to 2.5mm). The sides are convergent, with the stepped mouldings retaining a fairly consistent width (with a width before the top step of 18mm, a width at the top step of 19.7mm, a width before the basal step of 17.1mm and a width at the basal step of 22.3mm). The sides are straight and near-parallel at the basal section (24.8mm long with a width and thickness at the platform of 23.3mm and 14.0mm respectively). The casting seams are clearly evident and slightly raised on both sides and are significantly off-centre along its thickness. Both faces are flat across their lengths and slightly convergent to the platform (with a thickness at the break of 15.9mm) but have a gentle convexity across their widths. There is no decoration surviving on either face. The platform is sub-rectangular (22.4mm x 13.3mm) and is convex with no discernible evidence of significant battering scars. The surface is worn with a dark-brown patina and areas of mid-to-dark-green corrosion. The faces have a few scratches preserved beneath the patina.Bronze Age socketed hammers are not frequently reported, with 26 examples reported to PAS at the time of writing. The stepped sides of this example are difficult to parallel. The form of this example may be considered a variation of the quadrangular form, which when associated, is typically recovered with examples of Late Bronze Age, Ewart Park metalwork (c. 950 - 750BC), although early hammers have been found associated with metalwork dating to the end of the Middle Bronze Age. Four other hammers are recorded from Wales at present, two from North Wales; one from the Bronze Age occupation soil behind the rampart of the hillfort at the Breiddin (D.G. Coombs 1991 in Musson ed., mo. 139, 3 133-4) , the Breiddin hammer is of sub-quadrangular form and is expanded at the working platform, and an unpublished example from Burton, Wrexham (Gwilt pers. comm.) and is more rounded in form. Two quadrangular hammers from Wales have been recorded with PAS recently, a fragmentary example from Swansea and a more complete example from Brecon. Hammers often have a higher tin content in the bronze (Coombs ibid.; Evans; 1881 ) compared to contemporary axes, it has not been possible to analyse this example quantitatively but X-ray fluorescence surface analysis has indicated a leaded bronze with trace levels of arsenic and silver .1. Musson, C. R.; 1991; The Breiddin Hillfort: A later prehistoric settlement in the Welsh Marches;2. CBA Research Report No 763. NMWPA 2013.2014. Evans, J., 1881; The ancient bronze implements, weapons, and ornaments, of Great Britain and Ireland5. Mary Davis pers. Comm. (XRF 998)
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/ | Go to resource |
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