Object: Flat Axehead (Bronze Age)
Period: Bronze Age to BRONZE AGE ( to )
Material: Copper alloy 
Found: Hirwaun, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Rhondda Cynon Taf (Wales)
Discovery method: Metal detector
Length: 132.4 mm
Thickness: 12 mm
Weight: 295.4 g
Description: Early Bronze Age bronze Developed flat axe, of Class 4 (following Needham 1983) or probably of Type Scrabo Hill (Schmidt & Burgess, 1981, p 63-5) and of Metalwork Assemblage IV to V, corresponding to Needham's (1996) Period 3; dated to 2,050BC - 1,700BC.



The axe is near-complete but is heavily corroded with some peripheral loss (with a surviving length of 132.4mm and a weight of 295.4g). The butt is rounded (with a width of 31.1mm) and it is now uncertain how much rounding has resulted from corrosion. The sides of the axe are comparatively straight and gradually divergent to the blade. One side expands more sharply below the blade and suggests that the blade originally had at least a moderately expanded blade edge (with a surviving blade width of 56.2mm). The long profile of the axe is lenticular and the better preserved face has the suggestion of a median bevel (occurring approximately 60mm from the butt, where the axe has a maximum thickness of 12.0mm). A small fragment of the surface survives on the side of the face, just above the median bevel where a weak flange is discernible. A blade facet is evident on the better preserved face (13mm from the blade edge). The original blade edge has been lost and is now moderately rounded. Small remnant patches of the original surface survive which show that the axe was decorated with short linear and parallel marks or 'rain-pattern' decoration. A longer surviving strip of surface appears to show where the decoration ends (32mm from the blade) and the surface then exhibits striations running along the blade, probably from sharpening. The surface patina is dark-brown and elsewhere is heavily-pitted with a pale to mid-green corrosion.
Notes: Metallurgical analysis was attempted, where the axe was examined whole within the specimen chamber. Where possible, areas of metal exposed from under the surface corrosion were analysed and apart from very superficial surface swabbing of the artefacts there was no sample preparation. The results are semi-quantitative and overall totals taken from minimally prepared surfaces are usually affected to some degree by the surface geometry of the artefacts, including factors such as curvature, pitting and indentations etc. Other factors that can also affect the results include surface oxidation, surface enrichment or depletion of certain elements, contamination from closely adhering dirt, and preferential corrosion.



Three separate readings were taken and the majority of the overall totals acquired were slightly low due to the factors described above. The results were normalised to 100% to obtain consistency between the readings and to make the analyses comparable with other results the average compositions were: 79-86% copper, 14-20% tin with minimal amounts of lead detected (0.1-0.2%). Minor amounts of antimony (0.2-0.8%), sulphur (0.2%), nickel (0.3%) and arsenic (0.1-0.3%) were also detected.



This axe has been published Archaeology in Wales (Lodwick 2011).
Subsequent action: Returned to finder