TREASURE ANNU AL REPORT 2005/6 - Portable Antiquities Scheme

moulded ridges but also stamped motifs. It is possible
that its elaborate decoration played a part in its
selection for inclusion within the decorated spearhead.
Pocket type chapes are not common finds but are, like
the other objects, characteristic of the Ewart Park phase
of the Late Bronze Age.
Disposition: Museum of Archaeology and
Anthropology, Cambridge withdrew; British Museum.
S WORRELL
52. Talaton, Devon: Late bronze Age base-metal
objects (2005 T488)
Date: 1000–800 BC
Discovery: Found by Mr J Hewitt, Mr A Rizzutti & Mr
Norman while metal-detecting in October 2005, over
an area approx. 18 x 6.6m.
Description:
1. Socketed axe, blade fragment, small. Narrow,
rectangular socket. Slightly expanded blade, small part
of edge intact. Shallow chunk missing from blade edge.
Remaining area of blade surface displays horizontal
striations from re-sharpening. Length: 35.3mm; blade
width: 41.5mm; weight: 37.6g.
2. Socketed gouge, fragment. Tip of furrow. Length:
22.9mm; weight: 7.5g.
3. Socketed gouge, fragment. Broken close to furrow,
edges missing. Length: 20.65mm; weight: 8.2g.
4–12. Ingot fragments, mostly plano-convex, including
four edge fragments and two with cast grooves on one
surface. Total weight: 1.265kg.
Discussion: The non-ingot fragments are all
fragmentary and show signs of having been deliberately
broken for inclusion as scrap metal, and their presence
may be interpreted as scrap, mixed with ingots of raw
material, suggesting a founder’s hoard. Within such a
small group of artefacts, it is unusual that two socketed
gouges are represented.
All of these artefacts fall within the Ewart Park phase
of the Late Bronze Age. The hoarding of metalwork
at this period was not an uncommon phenomenon,
particularly in the south-east of Britain with scattered
examples elsewhere.
Disposition: Generously donated by the finders and
landowner to the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter.
S WORRELL
53. sedgefield, County Durham: Late bronze Age
base-metal hoard (2005 T388)
Date: 1000–800 BC
Discovery: Found by Mrs S Lister & Mr P Townsend
while metal-detecting in September 2005, object no.1
(the spearhead) was 6ft from the otherwise compact
group of finds. Scattered, apparently non-human bone
fragments were also recovered, but not kept.
Description:
1. Spearhead blade fragment. The upper part of a
probable leaf-shaped blade with convex edges. The
break is corroded. None of the socket survives. Length:
73mm; weight: 41.9g.
2. Bugle-shaped fitting. Complete, the two parts fused
together by corrosion. Component A is a D-shaped
loop of thick round section with a thinner rectangular
staple appended to the flat side. The staple is slotted
into component B, a spool-shaped piece with slots
in opposing sides and a perforation at just one end.
Extremely desiccated traces of organic material,
possibly leather are visible probably derive from a
strap threaded round the staple. Length: 39mm;
weight: 28.4g.
3. Ring. Complete, oval, unequal in thickness from one
side to the other. Diameter: 31.5 x 29.3mm;
weight: 2.2g.
4. Ring. Complete, circular, unequal in both thickness
and breadth from one side to the other, of oval to
lenticular section. It is fractured across the hoop at a
point where there is a radial rectangular perforation.
Diameter: 24.5mm; weight: 3.9g.
5. Amber bead. Yellowy-orange, semi-translucent,
slight chipped damage and with patches of bronze
corrosion products attached. Bun-shaped with faces
ground flat or slightly convex and a bowed outer edge.
Central near-cylindrical perforation. The outer edge
thins on two opposite sides, possibly the result of wear
from threads. Diameter: 17.3–17.5mm; diameter of
perforation: 4.2mm; weight: 1.2g.
6. Amber bead. Light orange, semi-translucent,
complete with no damage. Spots of bronze corrosion
adhere. Distinctly wedge-shaped in profile, the thinnest
side also being the narrowest in plan. The offset
perforation is slightly oval. Diameter: 10.6–10.9mm;
diameter of perforation: 4.4–5.3mm; weight: 0.2g.
7. Amber bead. Light orange, semi-translucent,
complete with minor cracks and spalls partially
polished out. Spots of bronze corrosion adhere.
Near disc form, but of variable breadth and unequal
thickness. Near cylindrical perforation, flattish faces
and bowed exterior. Diameter: 9.5mm; diameter of
perforation 3.8mm; weight: 0.1g.
Discussion: Of the objects found as a compact group,
the bugle-shaped fitting is the most diagnostic; the
type – which can be divided into at least four subtypes
– is well known in hoards of the Ewart phase
of the Late Bronze Age (Needham 1990, 61). Simple
rings and amber beads are also familiar at this date.
Insufficient of the spearhead survives to attribute it
to a specific type, but the form of the fragment is
entirely consistent with those of the Late Bronze Age in
northern England.
Disposition: Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle.
S P NEEDHAM
54. bradfield, Essex: Late bronze Age
base-metal scatter (2006 T132)
Date: 1000–800 BC
Discovery: Found by Mr J Cannon, Mr J Durrell & Mr A
Norfolk while metal-detecting in March 2006.
Description: (note: weights include soil)
1. Socketed axe, fragment. Lower blade end. Expanded
cutting edge. Edge missing due to corrosion damage.
Narrow, rectangular socket. Fine horizontal scratches
close to blade edge. Length: 47.2mm; width of blade:
42.45mm; weight: 55g.
2. Socketed axe, fragment. Lower blade end. Expanded
cutting edge. Edge missing due to corrosion damage.
Narrow, rectangular socket. Horizontal scratches
close to blade edge. Length: 41.1mm; width of blade:
44.2mm; weight: 89g.
3. Socketed axe, fragment. South-eastern Class A1.
Double mouth moulding. One side and small parts of
both faces. Length: 36.7mm; weight: 30g.
4. Socketed axe, fragment, Small axe, narrow with
rectangular socket. Blade end, small part of edge intact.
Expanded cutting edge, slight blade tip hollows. At the
break, one face has been pushed inwards. Occasional
scratches on the lower blade. Length: 34.4mm; width
of blade: 37.75mm; weight: 41g.
5. Socketed axe, South-eastern Class B, Type Welby.
Incomplete. One face is intact apart from the mouth,
the other has only part of the lower blade. Three
parallel ribs. Expanded cutting edge, defined blade tip
hollows. There is a large chip removed from one blade
tip and the blade edge is completely missing. Casting
flashes intact, but slightly fettled. Length: 82.2mm;
width of blade: 44.6mm; weight: 156g.
6. Socketed axe, mouth and upper body fragment.
South-eastern type A1. Double mouth moulding.
Small parts of one face and one side. Prominent casting
flashes. Length: 37.7mm; weight: 16g.
7. Sword, Ewart Park type. Blade fragment. Blade edges
are missing and damaged. No trace of the edge bevels
survives, but there are faint longitudinal scratches on
one side. Both surfaces have small hammer marks
down the centre. Length: 48.4mm; weight: 34g.
8. Knife, fragment. Tip and upper body. Length: 49.6mm;
weight: 15g.
9. Spear, fragment. Blade tip, central part. Both wings
are missing. Length: 31mm; weight: 7g.
10. Socketed axe, incomplete. Blade end. Cutting edge
slightly expanded, edge missing through corrosion
damage and one tip chipped off. Rectangular socket,
thin-walled. Length: 57.4mm; width of blade: 38.3mm;
weight: 119g.
11. Socketed axe, fragment. Blade end. Rectangular
socket, walls of variable thickness. Expanded cutting
edge. Casting flashes prominent. At the horizontal
break, one of the faces has a chunk missing and there
is a hammer mark where the wall has been pushed
inwards. Length: 45.2mm; width of blade: 45.4mm;
weight: 93g.
12. Socketed axe, fragment. Small axe, blade end.
Rectangular socket, thin-walled. Cutting edge expanded,
edge missing through corrosion damage. At the
horizontal break, both faces have been pushed inwards.
Length: 37.2mm; width of blade: 37.3mm; weight: 55g.
Discussion: All the finds are consistent with a
founder’s hoard of the Ewart Park phase of the Late
Bronze age. None of them are complete and many
show signs of deliberate breakage for inclusion as scrap
metal. The number of axe blade fragments is striking
and is a reminder that some process of selection lay
behind what at first sight might appear to be a random
collection of scrap. Weaponry is also not uncommon in
these hoards and is represented here by the sword and
spear fragments.
A consensus has emerged over the past 25 years that
such Ewart Park phase hoards are caches of bronze
that were buried over a relatively short period of time
when iron working was introduced c. 800 BC. The metal
in these hoards was not recovered from the ground in
antiquity because the demand for bronze fell when it
was replaced by iron as the staple metal for weaponry
and tools (Burgess 1979, 275–6; Needham 1990,
130–40; Needham et al. 1998, 93). Therefore, such
hoards document one of the key stages in the industrial
and technological development of Britain.
Disposition: Colchester & Ipswich Museums Service.
P SEALEY & S WORRELL
55. Langford, Essex: Late bronze Age
base-metal group (2006 T372)
Date: c. 1020–800 BC
Discovery: Found by Mr D Martin while metaldetecting
in July & September 2006 within a 6m area.
This find is further to 44 ingot fragments found in the
same place by Mr Martin in February and March 2000
(pre-Treasure Act designation order) weighing 4.882kg.
Description:
1. Sherd of prehistoric pottery from the base of a
flat-bottomed vessel; weight: 19g.
2. Complete socketed axe, South-eastern type, Bilton
or Worthing variant. The mouth is rectangular with a
prominent collar. Pronounced horizontal moulding,
gently curved sides and an unexpanded blade edge.
Length: 104mm; weight: 185g.
3. 19 bun-shaped copper-alloy ingot fragments, with
either both the upper and lower surfaces present,
or one surface and curved edge. Two amorphous
34 BRONZE AGE BRONZE AGE 35