Object: Flat Axehead (Bronze Age)
Period: Bronze Age to BRONZE AGE (2200 to 1900)
Material: Copper alloy 
Found: Chirbury with Brompton, Shropshire, Shropshire (West Midlands)
Discovery method: Metal detector
Length: 81.5 mm
Thickness: 6.92 mm
Weight: 93.4 g
Description: This is a fragment of an Early Bronze Age flat axe.  In this case, the axe has lost most of the lower blade and cutting edge but the shape and overall characteristics, give credibility to the conclusion.











The butt is rounded, slightly bent and coincident with the bend, there is a stress fracture across the face around one centimetre from the top edge.  A small section of the butt has broken away and missing.  The surface is undecorated but there are what appear to be hammer strikes down the edges.  The axe width expands from the butt with a very slight concave curve towards the now missing blade section.  The remaining length is 81.5mm and maximum width 47.5mm.  The thickness runs from 6.92mm at the butt to 4.90mm at the remaining lower edge at the break.











Found in Shropshire near the border with Wales, it resembles the matrices carved on the five-matrix axe mould from the river bed of the Walleybourne below Longden Common which has been ascribed to the Migdale-Marnoch tradition. See Thomas, Nicolas, "An Early Bronze Age Stone Axe-Mould from the Walleybourne below Longden Common, Shropshire" in Prehistoric Man in Wales and the West, 1972, pp161-6. It is also similar to axeheads found at Usk, Monmouthsire and St George's, Glamorgan (Savory, H N, 1980. "National Museum of Wales, Guide Catalogue of the Bronze Age Collections", pp165, Fig. 17, nos 106 and 110).  Staff at the National Museum have now confirmed the this axe belongs to the Migdale Tradition.











The surface has a small area of ancient, brown bronze patina but the greater part is lost.  That patina has now broken away to reveal the corrosive bright green copper oxidation below.
Notes: METALLURGICAL ANALYSIS OF A FLAT AXE FRAGMENT FROM SHROPSHIRE


 ANALYSIS by Mary Davis[1]


TECHNIQUE


Analysis to ascertain the elemental composition of the artefact was carried out using a CamScan MaXim 2040 analytical scanning electron microscope (SEM), plus an Oxford Instruments Link Isis energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX). The axe was examined whole within the specimen chamber and was analysed for 100 live seconds using a working distance of 35mm and an accelerating voltage of 20kV. Where possible, areas of metal exposed from under the surface corrosion were analysed; this occurred when the object was excavated. Apart from very superficial surface swabbing of the artefact there was usually no further sample preparation. The result presented is semi-quantitative. 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 from the axe and the overall totals acquired were relatively low due to the factors described above. The results were normalised to 100% to obtain consistency between the readings and to make the analysis comparable with other results.


 


RESULT


Bronze


Average composition of metal


84-88% copper


1-2% arsenic


11-13% tin


 


COMMENT by Adam Gwilt[2]


This is the butt end of an early axe with a narrow butt and concave flaring sides. The identification of this as being bronze in composition, rather than copper, helps to identify this axe as of Type Migdale, belonging to the early part of the Early Bronze Age and dating to between 2200-1900BC. However, the relatively thick butt is atypical for the type, generally defined as having a tapering butt. This fragment probably belonged to a large and heavy flaring axe, showing close affinity with many similar axes known from Scotland. It is likely to be British rather than an Irish product. In Wales, two hoards containing Migdale axes are known, from Brithdir, Caerphilly and Oxwich, Swansea, while a mould for a Migdale axe has been found at Betws-y-Coed, Conwy. Only around 30 examples of Migdale axes are currently known from Wales, while Dr Peter Northover only lists an additional six examples from the Welsh Marches in his recent study of bronzes from Wales and The Marches. This artefact, though fragmentary, therefore has some importance for the wider understanding of the early use and deposition of bronze in the region. It merits careful recording, illustration and photography to ensure it may be included within a wider future synthesis of material from the early part of the Early Bronze Age.






[1] Analytical Researcher and Archaeological Conservator, Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales






[2] Curator of the Bronze & Iron Age Collections, Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales
Subsequent action: Returned to finder