Object: Hoard (Bronze Age)
Period: Bronze Age to BRONZE AGE (-1000 to -800)
Material: Copper alloy Tin or tin alloy
Discovery method: Metal detector
Description: A bronze socketed axe of Late Bronze Age date and a worked and hook-shaped metal fragment



1. Faceted and socketed axe



(Dimensions: length 91.2mm; surviving blade width 43.6mm; external mouth dimensions 36.8 by 34.4mm, internal mouth dimensions 26.9 by 24.2mm; width below loop 32.8mm; height of collar 18.2mm; depth of socket approximately 67.0mm; surviving weight (after removal of haft fragment but before conservation) 183.9g).



This is a near complete, slender and faceted axe with an octagonal cross-section. The axe has a deep octagonal shaped collar, with a slightly flaring or trumpet-shaped mouth, which is sub-octagonal in plan shape. The loop is placed low down, the upper end emerging from the lower margin of the collar. The sides are near straight but slightly divergent and the blade edge does not widen markedly. A casting seam is evident down both sides of the axe, only partially removed and flattened by hammering or filing down. Striations on the blade bevel, both parallel and at right angles to the blade edge, suggest that the blade was sharpened. Areas of eroded surface damage are evident on one collar face and upper blade, with similar damage also to the blade edge and on the non-loop lower blade side. The axe has a dark brown patina, the eroded surfaces being mid to dark green.



2. Hook-shaped base metal fragment 



(Dimensions: maximum length 57.0mm; maximum curved width 37.5mm; surviving top width 12.8mm; surviving length at top 16.5mm; surviving width 20mm from tapering tip end 9.5mm; surviving thickness 20mm from tapering tip end 6.7mm; internal hollow mouth dimensions 11.5 by 7.6mm; depth of top hollow cavity approximately 9.0mm; surviving weight 40.3g.)



This is a differentially corroded hook-shaped dense base-metal object, with a hollowed out and sub-rectangular shaped top and a tapering narrow tip end with an oval-shaped cross-section. In form and size it resembles the tusk of a pig or wild boar. Original, but now longitudinally cracking surfaces survive on the interior concave curved side however original surfaces are almost entirely missing on the exterior convex shaped side. Microscope examination of the exterior surface suggests a small area of original surface survives approximately 18-22mm from the tapering tip end, indicating that the object was probably originally tapered in shape and not broken or differentially eroded here. The original surfaces have a dark grey black patina, while the corroded surfaces are a mottled light to mid-grey colour.



3. Wooden axe haft fragment (& small wood fragments) 



(Dimensions: maximum surviving length 51.8mm; width at top end approximately 24.0mm; base length 19.0mm; base width 3.1mm; surviving weight after drying 4.3g).



A shaped wooden axe haft fragment, fitted to the contours of the axe socket interior. The haft tapers in the axis parallel to the blade edge, though remains long and narrow at the lower end. The mouth end of the wood fragment has a damaged and concave surface, compression, fragmentation and twisting contributing to the loss of original shape here. This may have occurred recently, when the finder removed and re-inserted the haft fragment soon after discovery, or it could alternatively relate to ancient impact damage to the wood in the socket by a round and blunt ended tool.
Notes: Discussion (Adam Gwilt)



The faceted and socketed axe may be identified as of Type Gillespie (Schmidt & Burgess 1981, 191-4), equating with Class 9A socketed axes in Ireland (Eogan 2000, 62-81). These may be confidently dated by secure hoard associations to the late Wilburton and Ewart Park phases (late Bishopsland and Dowris phases in Ireland) of the Late Bronze Age, between 1050 and 800BC (Schmidt & Burgess 1981, 193-4; Eogan 2000, 80; Needham 1996, 134-7; Needham et al 1997; Northover unpublished 267-9). In Wales, the Llanarmon yn Iâl (Denbighshire), Llansantffraed Cwmdeuddwr (Powys), Llanddewi Rhydderch and Llangwm (both Monmouthshire), Old Kemeys (Newport), Fairwater (Cardiff) and Welsh St Donats (Vale of Glamorgan) hoards, all of Ewart Park and Late Bronze Age date, contain single examples of Type Gillespie faceted axes (Savory 1980, 120-2, Cats. 276, 278 & 282; Green 1983; Gwilt & Macdonald 2000; Gwilt 2004, 132-4, Appendix 1, Cats. 1 &7; Northover unpublished, Hoards 49,67,119 &145). The survival of wooden haft fragments inside the socket of the axe raises the possibility that the axe was deposited in the ground complete with its haft still attached, although it is equally likely that the haft was broken prior to deposition, with only the socket fragment entering the ground at the time of burial. The wooden haft may be species identified at future date and a wood sample may be taken, from which an independent radiocarbon date for the axe may be obtained.





Careful examination of the hook-shaped tin object suggests it was deliberately shaped as an attachment or handle to a larger object, although the possibilities of it being an unusually shaped adornment, talisman or ingot cannot be discounted. The hollowed-out, widened and sub-rectangular shaped top would appear to have been the point of attachment to a larger composite object, the head slotting into a peg or projecting fitting. Observation of the narrowing end with a microscope gives tentative support for it having been deliberately shaped and tapered, rather than the outcome of differential corrosion and damage since burial. This suggests that it was only secured at one, rather than two ends. It is possible that the tin hook was once the hidden core of a handle or attachment with a sheet or cast bronze outer surface. This may have improved the weighting of the handle and the mode of securing it to the larger object, or it may have been added for reasons more closely linked with the wider meanings and symbolisms attached to tin as a special metal with specific properties. The discovery of the hook-shaped tin object within the same detector pit and less than 18cm from the socketed axe is consistent with a close and direct association. On a balance of probability, this favours their burial together at the same time during the Late Bronze Age, as opposed to being a fortuitous association of an ancient with a tin object of more recent manufacture in historical times.



Tin was an essential metal during the Bronze Age, alloyed with copper to form bronze, with the most likely source of tin being located in Cornwall (e.g. Pearce 1983, 92-7). As such, it would have been an important and valued exchanged material, requiring long-distance transport to bronze casting centres across Britain in some quantities. Towards the end of the Bronze Age, much tin would have been carried alloyed within existing old bronze objects and scrap destined for recycling, however some was also transported as metal fragments of irregular shape and as ingots, although the latter still prove difficult to date with accuracy (Way 1859, 38-40; Smith 1872, 435-39; Evans 1881, 424-6; Pearce 1983, 384 & 407, Cat. 52) and remain remarkably rare archaeological finds.



A preliminary literature search has produced two known Late Bronze Age hoards with objects or fragments of tin directly associated. The Llangwyllog (Anglesey) hoard included a fragment of tin, interpreted as possibly a damaged or miscast ornament, and dates to the contemporary Ewart Park phase of the Late Bronze Age (1000-800BC) (Stanley 1865; Way 1866; Lynch 1991, 242-6 & Fig. 68; Northover 1997, 250; unpublished 274-86, Hoard 13). The Auchtertyre (Morayshire, Scotland) hoard, comprising a bronze socketed axe, two bronze spearheads and seven penannular bronze armlets, also included four fragments of tin (Smith 1872, 435-9; Evans 1881, 425; Coles 1959-60, 120-1). These were oval-sectioned and curved as if once part of a curved bar or ring, with one illustrated example suggesting it was slightly wider and thicker at one end (Smith 1872, 435). Unfortunately these no longer survive in the collections of the National Museums of Scotland (T. Cowie pers comm.), so their precise form cannot be compared with the hook-shaped tin fragment from Treuddyn. When chemically analysed soon after their discovery, the tin fragments were found to be made of a tin-lead alloy (78.66% tin, 21.34% lead). The socketed axe in the Auchtertyre hoard is of similar form of faceted axe (Type Meldreth, Variant Aylsham) as the Treuddyn example and also of the same date (Schmidt & Burgess 1981, 206-7, Cat. 1234). The two socketed spearheads are of Late Bronze Age form and the Covesea type bronze armlets may be equated with the Ewart Park tradition of the Late Bronze Age (Coles 1959-60, 34-5, 54-5; Schmidt & Burgess 1981, 206-7 & Pl. 144C; Eogan 1994, 85).



Objects of tin dating to the Late Bronze Age have been discovered in a number of watery places in Britain and Wales and probably associated with votive and religious practice. For example, sixteen tin objects were reported from a votive context near a timber causeway into a watery fen at Flag Fen in Cambridgeshire (Coombs 2001, 291). These included wheel models, purse-shaped ornaments, rings and beads, the former finding close parallel with Late Bronze Age examples in Switzerland (Northover 1997, 250). A further object of possible Late Bronze Age date from this site was a shale bracelet with inlayed insets of 'white metal' (lead or tin) in a zig-zag design (Coombs 2001, 280, Cat. 257 & Fig. 10.10). Recent analytical research of a large penannular gold ring of Late Bronze Age date, held in The British Museum collections, has shown that the gold is plated onto a core of tin, containing 6% lead Meeks et al 2008, 14-17, 23-4, Fig 1.xvii). A decorated grooved strip of tin was discovered near a timber causeway in a wet palaeochannel context, and securely dated to the Late Bronze Age, at Caldicot, Monmouthshire (Northover 1997, 250; Nayling & Caseldine 1997, 265-8). The Caergwrle bowl, in the form of a boat model is made of Kimmeridge shale and has decorative tin insets forming wave and oar motifs, and also applied to the rim as a ground metal, onto which shield motifs could be stamped (Davis pers comm.). These were covered with decorative gold foil. This unique artefact may be dated to the slightly earlier Penard phase at the end of the Middle Bronze Age (1300-1150BC). It was discovered in boggy ground next to the River Alyn near Caergwrle Castle in 1823 and was probably a carefully placed religious or votive gift (e.g. Barnwell 1875; Savory 1980, 127, Cat. 306; Davis 2011). To conclude this rapid overview of tin finds, discovered as fragments, ingots, in hoard associations and in religious watery deposits, a Late Bronze Age and contemporary association of a faceted bronze socketed axe with a hook-shaped tin object is plausible and consistent with the wider evidence.



Further support for the Treuddyn find representing a genuine Late Bronze Age association can be gathered by comparison with the content of two other Ewart Park hoards known within the region. The Llanarmon-yn-Iâl (Denbighshire) hoard, discovered just a few kilometres to the north-west of the Treuddyn find in 1982, comprised two folded gold bracelets, a gold finger-ingot and two gold link fragments carefully placed inside the socket a large faceted bronze axe of Type Gillespie (Green 1983). Similarly, in 2002, a small hoard was found near Rossett (Wrexham) and comprised four cut fragments of Irish gold bracelets carefully placed inside a slender faceted bronze axe of Type Meldreth and associated with a fine tanged bronze knife (Gwilt et al 2005). The repeated association of gold and tin - highly valued Bronze Age metals - with specially selected faceted axes (in all three cases), appears to represent a remarkably consistent and specific regional practice. The account of the discovery of the Llanarmon-yn-Iâl hoard includes the tantalising observation that 'tiny fragments of lead ore (galena)' were also found inside the socket of the axe, but were discarded by the finder at the time of discovery (Green 1983, 384). In the light of the Treuddyn tin discovery, one wonders if the fragments were misidentified and were instead tin, a dense metal with a similar appearance to lead in corroded (white metal) state, although brighter and more silvery than galena or lead in fresh state. The survival of wood in the socket of the axe indicates that the tin fragment was buried next to the axe, rather than being placed within its socket and later disturbed. Whether or not this is true, the association of either lead or tin with gold, and deposited with a bronze faceted axe, suggests that mixed metals, sometimes in raw, unalloyed and unformed state, were valued and deliberately selected as appropriate for burial. Further examples of gold bracelets found carefully cut or folded and placed inside bronze socketed axes are known from Ireland, south Wales and Cornwall giving a shared western British and Irish patterning (Gwilt et al 2005, 42-3) and the north-east Wales cluster is a more specific practice and clustering within this wider pattern. A caveat to this is the observation that the Treuddyn find differs from the other two hoards and the others cited in one respect: here, the tin object was not placed inside the socket of the faceted axe, but beside it, since the survival of wood in the base of the socket occupies too much of the internal cavity to fit the hook-shaped tin object aswell.



The siting of the Treuddyn find, on dry-land at high altitude (295-300m OD) and near the headwaters of the Rivers Terrig and Cegidog, is remarkably similar to the siting of the Llanarmon-yn-Iâl hoard in the upland land-block overlooking the headwaters of the River Terrig and the upper reaches of the River Alyn. These rivers are both tributaries of the River Alyn. The Rossett hoard was found, further east and lower down the River Alyn's course in low-lying land and less than 2km from its confluence with the River Dee (Gwilt et al 2005, 28, Fig. 1). This river associated patterning, adds further plausibility to the suggestion that the Treuddyn faceted axe and hook-shaped tin object are a probable Late Bronze Age association. It lends weight to the suggestion that deliberately selected locations (river sources and confluences), with similar social, cosmological and religious meanings and associations, were chosen for the burial of metalwork hoards in this region and at this specific time during the Late Bronze Age (1000-800BC).





Bibliography



~~References



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Subsequent action: Acquired by museum after being declared Treasure