Object: Hoard (Bronze Age)
Period: Bronze Age to BRONZE AGE (-1000 to -800)
Material: Copper alloy 
Found: Carnforth, Lancaster, Lancashire (North West)
Discovery method: Metal detector
Description: Copper alloy mid to late Bronze Age tanged chisel dagger fragment and two slag residues found within 1.5m of each other and appear to be associated. They date from 1000 to 800BC. Associated with LANCUM-06AA41, LANCUM-0633E7,  LANCUM-060825.jpg, LANCUM-064172 and LANCUM-069462



Description



1. Chisel: The chisel is virtually complete and in good condition. The tang of the chisel is tapering and rectangular sectioned square-sectioned. There is a wide, oval collar separating the tang from the blade. The blade is oval in cross section below the collar and flares and thins in to a triangular shape with a fine convex cutting edge.



Dimensions: Length: 98mm; Width: 30mm; Thickness: 6mm



Weight: 34.75g



2. Tanged Dagger or Knife: Incomplete. The blade is double edged, tapering, with a central ridge producing a lozenge form profile, the top is broken and may have originally terminated in a tang. The blade is narrowed from the top of the blade with angled sides and has breaks at both ends.



Dimensions: Surviving length: 50mm; Width: 15mm; Thickness: 2mm



Weight: 14.39g



3. Fragment of copper alloy slag



Dimensions: Length: 43mm; Width: 23mm; Thickness: 18mm



Weight: 34.47g



4. Fragment of copper alloy slag



Dimensions: Length: 22mm; Width: 12mm; Thickness: 8mm.



Weight: 11g



Discussion



The tanged chisel (1) has other parallels in the database such as a tanged chisel from South Oxfordshire (Byard 2012) (BERK-52E8C3) and one other from Winfrith Newburgh, Dorset (Hayward Trevarthen 2012) (DOR-F18347). Tanged chisels have been found in several Bronze Age hoards and have a wide distribution in Britain and Ireland.



Burgess and Gerloff (1981, 36ff) include a blade of similar shape and size to the tanged dagger or knife from Bolton-Le-Sands (2) in their Group II ('Damaged Blades Modified for Rehafting'). It is similar to an example from Marston Trussel, Northamptonshire (Ibid, no.248), described as: "[A t]anged blade, either a knife made in this form or possibly a dirk with butt cut down for rehafting, in which case the torn rivet hole would have been secondary." (Ibid., pl. 32, no 248). It is also similar to two others on the Portable Antiquity Scheme database. One a cast tanged knife found in Dorset (DOR-FAC625) and the other an incomplete knife found in Wiltshire (WILT-83A428).



Both finds (1-2) can be dated on typological ground to the Late Bronze Age Wilburton and Ewart Park phases, c.1000-850 BC. Metalworking waste (3-4) is a common feature of Late Bronze Age hoards and finds.



The four objects (1-4) appear to have been associated and represent a single find.



Conclusion



In terms of their age and grouping of more than two items, this find qualifies as a prehistoric base-metal assemblage and so as Treasure under the stipulations of the Treasure (Designation) Order 2002.



References



Byard, A (2012) BERK-52E8C3 A BRONZE AGE CHISEL Webpage available at: http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/488005 [Accessed: 8 May 2013 18:16:30]



Burgess, C. B. and Gerloff, S., 1981. The Dirks and Rapiers of Great Britain and Ireland Munich : Prähistorische Bronzefunde



Hayward Trevarthen, C (2012) DOR-F18347 A BRONZE AGE CHISEL Webpage available at: http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/493532 [Accessed: 8 May 2013 18:13:28]



Authors:



Stuart Noon



Finds Liaison Officers for Lancashire and Cumbria



Amended:



Mafalda Raposo



Volunteer, The British Museum



Neil Wilkin



Curator, Bronze Age Collections, The British Museum



8th of May, 2013
Subsequent action: Submitted for consideration as Treasure