Object: Hoard (Bronze Age)
Period:  to  (-1300 to -1000)
Material: Copper alloy 
Found: Dundry, North Somerset, North Somerset (South West)
Discovery method: Metal detector
Description: 1.	Copper alloy narrow-bladed looped palstave, has a wide central moulding which tapers starting from the centre of the stop ridge and which stops approximately two thirds down the axe blade. The stop is squared and the body of the blade is narrow and only slightly flared. The patina is green overall and runs from smooth dark green to more corroded pitted light green.


Weight: 461.8 g, Max length: 172.28, Length of loop: 28.24mm, Max width: 40.36


2.	Copper alloy narrow-bladed looped palstave (butt broken), has a wide central moulding from the centre of the stop ridge, which stops approximately three quarters down the axe. The stop is squared and the body of the blade is narrow and only slightly flared.  It's patina is green in overall appearance and runs from dark green and smooth to more corroded pitted areas of lighter green.


Weight: 374.8g, Max length: 135.84mm, Length of loop: 30.55mm, Max Width: 39.82mm


3.	Stone fragment with copper alloy staining, has three straight flat edges, two faces which are rough and broken, and is dark grey/green in colour.


Weight: 42.7g Max Length: 52.14mm, Max Width: 20.08mm


4.	Copper alloy fragment- possibly casting waste.


Weight: 29.3g, Max length: 58.67mm, Max Width: 28.16mm


5.	Copper alloy metalworking waste- slag fragment?


Weight: 67.1g, Max Length: 45.12mm, Max Width: 28.70mm


6.	Copper alloy fragment- casting waste?


Weight: 20.9g, Max Length: 41.59mm, Max Width: 30.49mm


7.	Copper alloy metalworking waste.


Weight: 8.9g, Max length 31.60mm, 21.45mm


8.	Copper alloy metalworking waste- possibly slag fragments.


Weight: 20.1g, Max Length: 41.04mm, Max Width: 34.34m


9.	Stone with copper alloy staining.


Weight: 117g, Max Length: 46.04mm, Max Width: 34.05mm


10.	Copper alloy fragment. Light brown green in colour, slightly rectangular in shape, all faces are corroded except for small patch on one face, which is smooth and displays evidence of working.


Max Length: 29.11mm, Max Width: 22.23mm


11.	 ? Fragment of casting funnel, flat bottom with two raised separated sections. Grey green in colour. Has part of a triangular shaped depression on one face.


Weight: 67g Max Length: 34.49mm Max Width: 36.08mm


12.	Hammered gold fragment, rectangular in shape, even thickness, curving slightly at one end.


Weight: 11.4g Max length: 39.55mm, Max width: 11.63mm, Thickness: 1.87mm


13.	Gold bar, coiled, probably destined to be a bracelet. The gold bar is coiled and has an irregular section. The ends of the bar have been worked and are smooth.


Weight: 52.5g, Max Length: 44.13mm, Max Width: 38.77 mm Thickness: 4.85mm


Discussion


The narrow-bladed looped palstaves (also termed Transitional or Late palstaves) dates the hoard to the Penard-Wilburton metalwork phase of the Middle Bronze Age (c. 1300 - 1000 BC) (see Rowlands 1976, 38; Schmidt and Burgess 1981, 158-160). The remaining copper alloy objects are undiagnostic metalworking waste or associated stones. The gold bar is also undiagnostic but the gold coiled bar is paralleled in Middle Bronze Age Towednack hoard, Cornwall (Hawkes 1932) which can also be provisionally dated to the Penard metalwork phase (c. 1300-1100 BC). The presence of this gold ornamentation together with the dating from the narrow-bladed looped palstave places this hoard within the gold phase of the Middle Bronze Age 'ornament horizon' (Roberts 2007). The presence of gold ornaments deposited together with copper alloy palstaves during this period has been recorded in several hoards throughout southwest England such as Winterhay Green, Somerset (Rowlands 1976, 256).


Conclusion

The objects qualify as Treasure under the stipulations of the Treasure Act (1996) (Designation Order 2002).


References


Hawkes, C.F.C. 1932. The Towednack gold hoard. Man 32, 222-39


Roberts, B.W. 2007. Adorning the living but not the dead: reassessing the Middle Bronze Age 'ornament horizon' in Britain. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 73, 135-167


Rowlands, M. J. 1976. The Production and Distribution of Metalwork in the Middle Bronze Age in Southern Britain. British Archaeological Reports 31. Oxford: Archaeopress.


Schmidt, P. K, Burgess, C. B. 1981. The Axes of Scotland and Northern England. Prähistoriche Bronzefunde IX, 7. Munich: Beck.


Katherine McBride (volunteer)


Ben Roberts

Curator of European Bronze Age
Subsequent action: Acquired by museum after being declared Treasure