Object: Chisel (Bronze Age)
Period: Bronze Age to BRONZE AGE (-1500 to -800)
Material: Copper alloy 
Found: Pontardawe, Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot (Wales)
Discovery method: Metal detector
Length: 164 mm
Thickness: 10.3 mm
Weight: 119.4 g
Description: Middle to Late Bronze Age bronze tanged chisel, known as a trunnion tool, probably dating from 1500BC to 800BC



The trunnion tool is near-complete, heavily corroded with peripheral erosion (with a length of 164mm and a weight of 119.4g). The butt is narrow, thin and rounded (with a width of 9mm and a thickness of 3.9mm). The sides are straight and gradually divergent to the two trunnions. The chisel is thickest at the position of the trunnions (63mm  - 78mm from the butt, where it has a maximum thickness of 10.3mm). The trunnions are now of rounded form (giving a maximum width to the tool of 33.1mm, protruding by 2-4mm and are 15mm wide). The sides of the blade are also straight and divergent towards the blade edge, now eroded (with a surviving width of 21.5mm). The blade edge has been lost and the edge is damaged, longer on one side. One face of the tool is more convex across its length than the other and both faces are flat across their widths, becoming gently convex along the blade. The surface of the tool has largely been lost, with a pale, bright-green corrosion underlying a grey-brown corroded surface. There is one surviving patch of dark brown patina surviving on one face near the position of the trunnions. 



Trunnion tools are a long-lived form of chisel spanning from the Arreton tradition at the end of the Early Bronze Age (1700-1500BC) to the Late Bronze Age (1150-800BC) (Brailsford 1953, 34, Fig. 12[1]; Burgess & Cowen 1972, 169-74[2]). A number of trunnion tools have been recovered from along the northern Marches and in north-east Wales. Examples have been found in the Broxton (Cheshire), Ebnal (Shropshire) and the Meol Brace (Shropshire) hoards. The former was associated with two Group III low-flanged palstaves and a basal-looped spearhead dated to the Taunton period of the Middle Bronze Age (1400-1275BC) (Davey & Forster 1975 Cat. 66[3],; Longley 1987, 96-103[4]).  The latter, associated with two transitional palstaves of the Penard phase. A rich hoard from Burton, Wrexham contained two palstaves of Transitional type along with a number of gold ornaments dating to the Penard phase of the Middle Bronze Age. (Gwilt, Lodwick & Davis 2004)[5]. Single finds of trunnion tools have also been made at Talerddig (Powys), Llandudno (Conwy) (Hemp 1925)[6] and Llangynog (Carmarthenshire)[7]. While some trunnion tools can date from the end of the early Bronze Age, most associated examples are recovered from hoards dated to the Middle Bronze Age.





[1]Brailsford, J.W.; 1953, Later Prehistoric Antiquities of The British Isles, London: British Museum.



[2] Burgess, C. & Cowen, J.D.; 1972, The Ebnal Hoard and Early Bronze Age Metal-working Traditions, 



In F. Lynch & C. burgess (eds.), Prehistoric Man in Wales and the West; Essays in honour of 



Lily F. Chitty, Bath: Adams & Dart, 167-81.



[3] Davey, P.J. & Forster, E.; 1975, Bronze Age Metalwork from Lancashire and Cheshire, Liverpool: 



University of Liverpool Department of Prehistoric Archaeology.



[4] Longley, D.M.T.; 1987, Prehistory: The Later Bronze Age c.1500-c. 700BC, In B.E. Harris (ed.), A 



History of the County of Chester; Volume I: Physique, Prehistory, Roman, Anglo-Saxon and 



Domesday, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 92-103.



[5] Gwilt, A., Lodwick, M. & Davis, M.; 2004, Burton Wrexham: Middle Bronze Age hoard of gold ornaments and bronze tools with a pot; Treasure Annual Report 2004



[6] Hemp, W.J.; 1925, The Trunnion Celt in Britain, The Antiquaries Journal, 5, 51-4.



[7] PAS Cymru reference: NMWPA 2012.40;
Subsequent action: Returned to finder