Object: Hoard (Bronze Age)
Period: Bronze Age to BRONZE AGE (-1150 to -1000)
Material: Copper alloy 
Found: Mickleham, Mole Valley, Surrey (South East)
Discovery method: Metal detector
Description: Circumstances of discovery



Three objects found together on 29 November 2003 using a metal-detector. Subsequent excavation on the find-spot, conducted by David Williams, Finds Liaison Officer for Surrey, has shown an important relationship to ancient, probably Bronze Age, landscape features. Furthermore, the hoard appears to have lain beneath a small cairn of tightly packed flint nodules.





Description



Palstave 1 (axehead)



A palstave with a gently flared and heavy blade ornamented with a stout trident rib design. The stop, at the blade/haft end junction is massive and protrudes well beyond the linking flanges in profile. The side loop is unusually thick and has an octagonal cross-section. The septum floor is effectively flat with a sharp angle where it meets the inner flange faces.





Length 184 mm;  width blade 49 mm; weight 623.5 g





Palstave 2



The second palstave is rather different in style. The blade starts parallel at the top, then expands progressively towards the convex cutting edge. It too carries stout ‘decoration’, this time just a single medial rib on either face, giving the upper blade a hexagonal section. The stop shows similar protuberance relative to the flanges as seen on palstave 1, while the septum floor is again flat with strong angles along the flanges. The loop is slighter with a sub-oval cross-section.





Length 168 mm;  width blade 52 mm; weight 492.1 g





Chape (sword-scabbard terminal)



A thin-walled socketed fitting, the socket of which continues to within 6 mm of the terminal. The body of chape is rhombic-sectioned with the addition of narrow flattened sides throughout its length. At the end it expands slightly into a sub-lozenge ‘button’ terminal. The mouth is very gently V-shaped in plan view. Two neat perforations on opposing faces provide for rivet fixings to the wood or leather lining of the scabbard.





Length 157.5 mm; width mouth 40 mm; weight 72.5 g





Metal composition



No analysis has been conducted, but there is no doubt that these are copper-alloy objects, of either bronze or leaded bronze.
Notes: Identification



The two palstaves, although different in detail, are united by features characteristic of the Late type. These include relatively narrow blades and the specific stop/flange/septum form. Late palstaves belong to the Late Bronze Age between circa 1150 and 800 BC. Associated finds suggests that there are some significant shifts in style between the earlier and later half of this period, but the full range of variation as seen in extant axes is not yet represented in hoards. This gives considerable importance to the association in the Mickleham hoard of two style variants with a more closely dated bronze type.





The chape belongs to the ‘tongue-shaped’ family. Long tongue chapes occur in both the Wilburton metalwork assemblage and in some early Ewart hoards (Blackmoor stage), the full potential span being circa 1150-900 BC. However, the near straight mouth of the Mickleham example is not found in the later group and so it can almost certainly be attributed to the Wilburton stage, circa 1150-1000 BC.





Conclusion



The Mickleham bronzes were clearly found together as a closed group and had probably been sealed under a small flint cairn at about the same time. They date to the Wilburton stage of the Late Bronze Age and are eligible as Treasure under the new Treasure Order (2002) being a base-metal prehistoric associated find containing two or more metal objects.









Dr S.P. Needham



Department of Prehistory & Europe



British Museum
Subsequent action: Acquired by museum after being declared Treasure