Object: Spearhead (Bronze Age)
Period: Bronze Age to BRONZE AGE (-1500 to -1100)
Material: Copper alloy 
Found: Mumbles, Swansea, Swansea (Wales)
Discovery method: Metal detector
Length: 94 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight: 39.2 g
Description: Middle Bronze Age bronze socketed spearhead of Davis’ (2012)[1] Group 6: Developed side-looped, unclassified (Greenwell and Brewis (1909)[2] Class IV (or socket -looped)) spearheads and of later Arreton, Acton Park, Taunton or early Wilburton metalworking (c. 1500 – 1100BC), of Needham’s (1996)[3] Periods 4-5 



The spearhead is near-complete missing one loop and with some damage to the socket mouth (with a length of 94.0mm and a weight of 39.2g). The incomplete socket is sub-circular (with a maximum internal diameter of 13.5mm and an external diameter of 14.5mm - 15.9mm). The socket has a depth of 30, possibly with concretions or corrosion at the base. There is a subtle groove around the socket above the mouth (3mm above the socket). The sides of the socket are near-straight and gradually convergent. One of the loops is complete 



and is flat-topped of linear form (20mm long by 3mm wide), which begin 20mm from the socket mouth. The perforations beneath the loops are slender and oval (4.0-5mm long and 2mm high). Both sides have a ridge, running between the mouth and the base of the loop. Between the top of the loop and the base of the blade are five to six short horizontal incised lines, perhaps referencing or accommodating the binding. Only a small part of the blade survives (with a surviving length of 18.6mm and maximum surviving width of 45.6mm) but the gentle curve may suggest a leaf-shaped blade. The damaged blade edge with a blade facet is evident and survives on one side. Above the loop, the socket becomes increasingly oval-sectioned and defines a prominent midrib along the blade, as far as the break (with a thickness at the break of 9.5mm). The break occurred in antiquity and the socket (4.9mm diameter) is off-centre at the break (with a minimum thickness of 0.4mm). The spearhead has been neatly finished with no casting flashes evident. The surface of the spearhead is partially-preserved with a dark brown patina. Sharpening striations are evident beneath the patina running along the blade on the better preserved face. 





Group 6, side-looped spearheads have a long-lived production, spanning the end of Arreton in the Early Bronze Age to Wilburton at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age. A side-looped spearhead of Davis’ (2012) Group 6, Type A was found in the Thames at Mortlake, now in the Museum of London[4], and had remnants of the wooden shaft surviving. The shaft was radiocarbon dated by Needham et al (1997, DOB 31)[5] to 1680 – 1400BC (with 95% confidence). A Group 6, Type D spearhead from Tormarton, Gloucestershire has two radiocarbon dates (1390 – 1010BC and 1310-1057BC) (Davis 







[1] Davis, R., 2012; The Early and Middle Bronze Age Spearheads of Britain, Praähistorische Bronzefunde Abteilung V. Band 5.



[2] Greenwell, W. & Brewis, W.P. 1909, The origin, evolution and classification of the bronze spear-head in Great Britain and Ireland, Archaeologia 61: 439-472



[3] Needham, S. 1996; Chronology and Periodisation in the British Bronze Age, Acta Archaeologica 67, p. 121-140



[4] Accession number: A11811



[5] Needham, S., Bronk Ramsey, C., Coombs, D., Cartwright, C., Pettitt, P.; 1997; An Independent Chronology for British Bronze Age Metalwork: The Results of the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Programme; Archaeological Journal 154, p. 55-107
Subsequent action: Returned to finder