Object: Hoard (Bronze Age)
Period: Bronze Age to BRONZE AGE (-1000 to -800)
Material: Copper alloy 
Found: Orcop, County of Herefordshire, County of Herefordshire (West Midlands)
Discovery method: Metal detector
Description: 1, fragment of a Late Bronze Age socketed axe that consists of the blade and the base of the socket. The break is ancient and irregular with bubbles form the casting visible in the cross-section. The blade has a very low curved forward edge which is heavily corroded. Behind the blade the surface of the axe is in excellent condition with a dark green patina that has a series of shallow striation that run up from the blade on the top and bottom edge that are probably formed from use or sharpening. The casting seam is visible but has been filed down. The body is decorated with three horizontal ribs on both sides. The socket at the rear is oval 37mm, long by 9mm wide and 4mm deep.



Length 40mm, width 49mm, thickness 18mm, weight 101g



2, fragment of a Late Bronze Age socketed axe that consists of the blade and a small portion of the socket. The blades has a short curved working edge. The socket sits very close behind the blade and results in there only being 5mm of metal between the tip of the blade and the end of the socket. Although the remaining portion of the axe is heavily truncated the remaining section suggests it would have been a very narrow implement.



Length 27mm, width 32mm, thickness 13mm, weight 13.49g



3, fragment of a Late Bronze Age socketed axefrom the mid-section of the body. In cross-section that axe is rectangular with faceted sides of two faces. The body is decorated with three horizontal ribs on both sides.



Length 50mm, width 38mm, thickness 18mm, weight 67g



4, casting waste



Copper alloy teardrop shaped fragment of casting waste or a casting jet.



Length 20mm, width 17mm, thickness 15mm, weight 2.85g



5, Broken Late Bronze Age socketed axe that is 80% complete. This fragment is missing the lower half of the socket on one side. The blade has a low curved forward edge the tip of which is heavily corroded and suffering from bright green bronze disease. The sides of the blade curve inwards to the walls of the axe where a casting seam is visible, but which has been filed down. The body is decorated with three horizontal ribs on both sides which terminate just before the socket. The socket would originally have been rectangular, but approximately half of its length is now missing, the remaining portion has a semi-circular collar which is now heavily corroded. On one side of the axe is a projecting knop, this is the forward section of the truncated loop, the rear of the loop would have been on the missing element of the axe.



Length 57mm, width 33mm, thickness 26mm, weight 50.46mm,



Chronology: Socketed axes deposited in fragmentary, 'scrap' hoards are most common during the Ewart Park phase of the Late Bronze Age c. 950-800 BC BC (Needham 1996).



Discussion: The axe fragments are too fragmentary to be assigned to a typological grouping. They are, however, of a comparable date and the addition of a fragment of casting waste is consistent with a so-called 'scrap' or 'founders' hoards of the Late Bronze Age.
Subsequent action: Submitted for consideration as Treasure