Object: Razor (Bronze Age)
Period: Bronze Age to BRONZE AGE (-1300 to -800)
Material: Copper alloy 
Found: St. Agnes, Cornwall, Cornwall (South West)
Discovery method: Metal detector
Length: 47 mm
Thickness: 8 mm
Weight: 96.52 g
Description: Incomplete cast copper alloy razor or knife, semi-circular in plan, with part of the circular perforation remaining that was probably for a wooden shaft or handle. The perforation has since broken so that the full extent of the curved upper edge is not known, but the opposite straight side of the razor tapers to a sharp edge. Both sides of the blade are beveled, from about 10 mm in from the edge. Perhaps its asymmetrical shape is due to it having been modified from another tool or artefact in prehistory. Similar perforated triangular examples have been found at Phillack, Hayle in Cornwall (TRURI 1701.124) and in Northwest France. These have been traditionally associated with 'Hog's back' knives and are dated from the Late Bronze Age but they have more in common with the 'Racloir' types found in Northwest France; and the latest find from Trevalga, Tintagel of a mould for a triangular razor or 'racloir' has been dated from the Middle Bronze Age, during the Taunton phase of metalwork, c.1400-1300 cal BC (Jones A M and Quinnell, H forthcoming. 'Lines of archaeological investigation along the north Cornish coast').



A triangular perforated razor or knife is recorded in SOMDOR-FFE225 and dated from c.1020 - 800 BC (Ewart Park metalwork phase) and is identified as one of the Carp's Tongue Complex knives, similar to the more commonly known 'hog's back' variety of knife. These triangular shaped knives are strangely absent from finds in the Low Countries on the Continent, and are very rare in the rest of Central or Northern Europe, apart from the 'Racloir' type of triangular knife found in Northwest France.



Until recently, perforated racloirs have also been grouped in France with the Late Bronze Age Carp's tongue sword complex, Bronze final IIIb (Burgess 1968, 38, Fig.13, 11). However, at least two examples have recently been identified in the Rosnoën phase in France, of Bronze final I, similar to our Penard phase, which dates from c.1300-1100 BC.



A similar example of a semi-circular knife can be seen in KENT-A6C993, which is incomplete but has been identified as hog's back knife or razor and dated from c.1020-800 BC, and has been compared to similar knives found in the Boughton Malherbe Hoard (2011 T464 and KENT-15A293). "KENT-A6C993 is in very good condition, apart from being broken, and it is indeed a hog's back knife. These tend to have an irregular five-sided outline and often some kind of ridge parallel to the long edge. CORN-28E916 could fit with the outline of a hog's back knife, but would have had to suffer differential erosion of a rather unlikely kind" (Brendan O'Connor pers comm). O'Connor (1980, 179) includes the 'hogs-back' knives found in Britain amongst the Carp's Tongue hoards, and notes their similarity to the sub-rectangular or rectangular perforated knives found on the continent, particularly in Breton hoards. These knives are generally found across Southern-Eastern England, with a strong presence in Kent.



The closest parallel is illustrated in Piggott's paper on The Late Bronze Age Razors of the British Isles in PPS Vol.XII (1946) on page 138, Fig.8, No.45, which is classified as a Class II razor hybrid from Bishops Stortford in Essex (now in the British Museum).



Another hog's back knife with a perforation towards the upper angled edge is illustrated in Burgess (1968) on page 38, Fig.13, No.10, which is grouped with the Carp's Tongue Complex, dating from c.1000-800 BC.



Pearce (1983) illustrates similar examples of razors or knives from Hayle, Cornwall and Charlcombe, Somerset on pages 423 & 507, Plates 16 & 111, Nos.127 & 621, which are referred to as Hog's back knives.
Notes: Report from X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy analysis by Kathryn Moore at Camborne School of Mines:



Tin 24.73% / Copper 21.97% / Lead 0.258% / Antimony 0.2% / Titanium 0.091% / Iron 0.089% / Arsenic 0.057% / Nickel 0.033%



Balance (gasses etc) 52.42%



The mix of elements found in the razor, listed above, suggests that the object was made of a copper alloy that is typical of that used during the Bronze Age (Dr Peter Northover pers comm). It also compares well to the ratio of elements found in the palstave in CORN-7CC998 which dates from c.1400-1300 BC.
Subsequent action: Donated to a museum