Object: Hoard (Bronze Age)
Period: Bronze Age to BRONZE AGE (-1000 to -800)
Material: Copper alloy 
Found: Stannington, Northumberland, Northumberland (North East)
Discovery method: Metal detector
Description: Description

Complete copper alloy socketed axe heads

1. Copper alloy socketed axe head (Type Meldreth) in good condition with a flared

blade, a slender faceted body and a short flaring collar defined by a deep stepped groove. The loop is located below the collar. There is some damage to the cutting edge. The surface is dark green with an area of light green corrosion near the cutting edge on one side and on the other covering the majority of the body.

Max. length: 98.44mm Cutting edge: 58.84mm Mouth: 32.16mm x 30.65mm Weight: 173.0g

2. Copper alloy socketed axe head (Type Yorkshire) in good condition with three widely spaced parallel ribs which descend halfway down the face from a horizontal moulding below a prominent expanded collar. A loop protrudes from the horizontal moulding down to the body. The blade is slightly expanded. The surface is dark green with areas of light green corrosion

Max. length: 96.14mm Cutting edge: 48.89mm Mouth: 39.63mm x 39.50mm Weight: 196.4g

3. Copper alloy socketed axe head (Type Yorkshire) with three widely spaced parallel ribs which descend halfway down the face from a horizontal moulding below a prominent expanded collar. A loop protrudes from the horizontal moulding down to the body. The sides of the body are virtually straight blade is expanded. The surface is dark green with areas of light green corrosion and there is damage to the blade and the body.

Max. length: 95.37mm Cutting edge: 46.44mm Mouth: 40.54mm x 39.34mm Weight: 202.4g

4. Copper alloy socketed axe head (Type Yorkshire) with three widely spaced parallel ribs which descend halfway down the face from a horizontal moulding below a prominent expanded collar. A loop protrudes from the horizontal moulding down to the body. The sides of the body are virtually straight blade is expanded. The surface is dark green with areas of light green corrosion and there is damage to the blade.

Max. length: 88.90mm Cutting edge: 50.11mm Mouth: 39.77mm x 39.56mm Weight: 264.7g

5. Copper alloy socketed axe head body and collar. The short flaring collar defined by a deep stepped groove. The loop is located below the collar. The surface is dark green with an area of light green corrosion near the cutting edge on one side and on the other covering the majority of the body.

Max. length: 74.59mm Mouth: 45.27mm x 42.37mm Weight: 241.6g

6. Copper alloy cauldron handle fragment. Solid semi-circular ring, oval in section, which is broken at both ends. The surface is dark green with many areas of light green corrosion.

Max. Diam: 114.85mm Th: 9.47mm Weight: 118.5g

7. Copper alloy bar toggle. A short straight circular-sectioned rod with expanded ends and flat terminals. At the centre is a short, solid and straight-sided rectangular section protrudes from the rod at a slight angle until it expands slightly and terminates in a broken end. There is a groove at the base of the rectangular section on one side. The surface is dark green with many areas of light green corrosion

Max. Length: 30.96mm Max Width : 18.91mm; Max Th. 8.4mm Weight: 15.6g

8. Five copper alloy sheet edge fragments of shallow disc, probably fragments of a phalara. Five curved thin sheets with a highly polished dark green upper surface and a light green rough corroded lower surface. Four have straight defined edges. Refitting the fragments was not possible but angle of the curvature and the location of the edges implied an original flattened dome form.

Max. Length: 43.51mm Max Width: 26.76mm Max Th. 1.78mm Weight: 9.9g

Max. Length: 49.38mm Max Width: 22.85mm Max Th. 2.15mm Weight: 10.5g

Max. Length: 42.42mm Max Width: 21.02mm Max Th. 2.14mm Weight: 7.6g

Max. Length: 31.06mm Max Width: 21.05mm Max Th. 1.41mm Weight: 5.3g

Max. Length: 23.99mm Max Width: 19.56mm Max Th. 2.04mm Weight: 3.9g

9. Copper alloy nail headed pin fragment. Large flat circular head with narrowing circular-sectioned shaft bending slightly before the broken end. The surface is dark green with many areas of light green corrosion.

Max. Length: 27.65mm Max Width: 12.76mm Weight: 4.1g

10. Copper alloy annular ring. Small circular sectioned ring. The surface is dark green with many areas of light green corrosion.

Max. Diam: 22.94mm Max Th: 2.93mm Weight: 2.6g

11. Copper alloy annular ring. Small oval sectioned ring with a slightly distorted body. The surface is dominated by light green corrosion.

Max. Diam: 25.52mm Max Th: 3.14mm Weight: 3.3g

12. Copper alloy ring fragment. Curved oval sectioned bar with dark green surface and light green corrosion.

Max. Length: 36.69mm Max Th: 4.79mm Weight: 5.2g

13. Copper alloy socket fragment. Long expanded collar ending in a single round moulding and small broken body fragment. Dark green surface and light green corrosion on one side and light green corrosion on the other.

Max. Length: 33.12mm Max Width 15.99mm Max Th: 2.69mm Weight: 6.4g

14. Copper alloy fragment. Three grooves in on each side of a thin sheet fragment. Dark green surface and light green corrosion.

Max. Length: 22.54mm Max Width 14.24mm Max Th: 3.05mm Weight: 2.9g

15. Copper alloy socketed object, probably a wagon fitting. A broken hollow tubular body with a circular section and three parallel bands of decoration narrows to a plain tubular section with one decorative band. This expands to a disc shaped section before narrowing to a tubular section where it has been broken. Dark green surface and light green corrosion on one side and light green corrosion on the other.

Max. Length: 78.43mm Max Width 27.35mm Weight: 120.1g (with soil in socket)

Discussion

The Type Meldreth and Yorkshire socketed axes, the bar toggle, the probable phalara fragments and the nail headed pin all date this hoard to the Ewart Park metalwork phase (c. 1000-800 BC) in the Late Bronze Age. Type Yorkshire socketed axes are frequently found in hoards from East Anglia to Scotland (Schmidt and Burgess 1981, 223) and Type Meldreth socketed axes are well known throughout Britain, Ireland and Western Europe (Schmidt and Burgess 1981, 204). Nail headed pins are rarer but are found throughout England, including the northeast with comparable pins found in Heathery Burn Cave, County Durham (Britton and Longworth 1968, nos. 95-108; O'Connor 1980, 200, list 180, map 63). Bar toggles are occasionally found in hoards in England (see Rafferty 1975; O'Connor 1980, 196 and List 169) and although the Stannington example lacks the distinguishing central loop or perforation, it is possible that this is due to the breakage on the rectangular protrusion.

The probable cauldron handle fragment is comparable in shape and dimensions to the two cauldron handles placed in a hoard with a two blade fragments and 11 socketed axes, including one of Type Yorkshire, at Kilkerran, Ayrshire (Schmidt and Burgess 1981, plate 147 and p. 225-226, no. 1383; for further discussion of Late Bronze Age cauldrons, buckets and their handles see Gerloff 2010). The probable phalara fragments are interpreted, as are the bar toggles, as horse gear and are found throughout England and beyond (O'Connor 1975; 1980, 197, list 171.) with two from the northeast at Heathery Burn cave and Eastgate, Co. Durham (O'Connor 1975, 220). The final object, a probable wagon fitting, has no straightforward parallel in Britain or beyond but is broadly comparable to sections of Late Bronze Age tubular wagon fittings found in the Hart a. d. Alz group in Central Europe (see Pare 1992, 18-42). Despite the relative rarity of certain object types in the hoard, the assemblage is comparable to parts of the Heathery Burn Cave, County Durham hoard(s) (Britton and Longworth 1968) and Kilkerran, Ayrshire hoard (Schmidt and Burgess 1981, 225-226) amongst others.

Conclusion

The hoard fulfils the requirements for being considered Treasure under the 1996 Treasure Act (2002 Amendment).

References

Britton, D. and Longworth, I. 1968 Late Bronze Age finds in the Heathery Burn cave, Co. Durham. Inventaria Archaeologica 55

Gerloff, S. 2010. Atlantic Cauldrons and Buckets of the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages in Western Europe: With a Review of Comparable Vessels from Central Europe and Italy. Munich: Prahistorische Bronzefunde II/18.

O'Connor, B. 1975. Six Prehistoric Phalerae in the London Museum and a discussion of other Phalerae from the British Isles. The Antiquaries Journal 55, 215-226.

O'Connor, B. 1980. Cross-Channel Relations in the Later Bronze Age. BAR International Series 91.

Pare, C.F.E. 1992. Wagons and Wagon-Graves of the Early Iron Age in Central Europe. Oxford: OUCA Monograph 35.

Rafferty, B. 1975. A Late Bronze bar toggle from Ireland. Archaeologica Atlantica 1, 83-89.

Schmidt, P K and Burgess, C B 1981. The axes of Scotland and Northern England. Munich: Prahistorische Bronzefunde IX/7.



Ben Roberts (Curator of European Bronze Age) 21.12.10
Notes: 5/5/11 TVC valuation: £1500
Subsequent action: Acquired by museum after being declared Treasure